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Two years ago this week (which makes this even more apt), I actually went to see the musical Here You Come Again, not in my own neck-of-the-woods where they were there in June, but as it was my birthday, I saw it on holiday at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff (aka the Donald Gordon Theatre, of course). With a copy of a programme both written in English and Welsh, a pink mug and burgundy fridge magnet, I enjoyed a couple of hours of great entertainment as I have previously mentioned in the Watching Musicals at the Theatre thread, and it was influenced by a certain A-list star. Sadly, it had some controversy when co-star Stevie Webb was on the receiving end of homophobic abuse when the show toured in Manchester and London. However, the brilliant Tricia Paoluccio appeared as our featured person that I am paying tribute to here. It didn't feel anything like Stars in their Eyes but an almost accurate portrayal of the American singer and actress, Dolly Parton, who has died at the age of 80.
I first heard of our hero's passing tonight when I was listening to the radio station Gold UK on the DAB radio while in the bath, and as the station referred to her as "remembering the life of... Dolly Parton". Nine-to-Five was played on the radio as a tribute, and the station just after 9.00 pm, I knew that she had left us. Appropriately enough, and ironically, when the curtain went up for Act Two in Here You Come Again in Cardiff which was just after 9.00 pm (yes, please note the time), the same song Nine-to-Five was played. Parton was such an icon, a very positive icon; not just a stereotypical gay icon as lots of people assume, but a general icon in American and world entertainment; she had a positive attitude towards gay and lesbian organisations and did not have a homophobic bone in her body which makes what had recently happened last year to Stevie Webb so ironic. I believe that she was a huge fan of the Pride events just like I am. I think of her as someone who was certainly in our hearts and minds back, and I remember her prominence as I grew up during the 1980s; the American comedy programme Nine-to-Five, (or even 9-to-5) was seen in post-News at Ten slots in various ITV regions in around 1982-1983 and was a sideline to her music career. (No doubt that I won't be working "nine-to-five" writing this obituary!)
The song Nine-to-Five had all the charm of Leroy Anderson's The Typewriter, with keys being pressed to the music, and a vision of busy secretaries doing the job, working for their boss and getting the post (or mail) out on time. Meanwhile, back at the old place where I used to live growing up in 1988 when we were having the painter and decorator in, we had the "wireless" (radio, to you) on. When Parton's Jolene was playing on a local radio station, the decorator had admitted that it was his wife's name! According to the Everyhit website, it seemed that it was the only hit of Parton's that made it into the Top 40. Nine-to-Five did make it but towards the lower part of the Top 75 in around 1982 which I am surprised myself as to how familiar it was as a tune around the world. A year later, Islands in the Stream was another Parton song, duetted with the late Kenny Rogers, written by the Bee Gees (Barry, Maurice and Robin), and named after Ernest Hemingway's 1970 novel, which was published nine years after his death. One can hear the Bee Gees' familiar trademarked harmony in that song if one listens very carefully.
Sadly, it's a case of Goodbye Dolly rather than Hello Dolly, as well as a case of Here She Can't Come Again, any more... Rest in peace - she was a lovely lady.
I first heard of our hero's passing tonight when I was listening to the radio station Gold UK on the DAB radio while in the bath, and as the station referred to her as "remembering the life of... Dolly Parton". Nine-to-Five was played on the radio as a tribute, and the station just after 9.00 pm, I knew that she had left us. Appropriately enough, and ironically, when the curtain went up for Act Two in Here You Come Again in Cardiff which was just after 9.00 pm (yes, please note the time), the same song Nine-to-Five was played. Parton was such an icon, a very positive icon; not just a stereotypical gay icon as lots of people assume, but a general icon in American and world entertainment; she had a positive attitude towards gay and lesbian organisations and did not have a homophobic bone in her body which makes what had recently happened last year to Stevie Webb so ironic. I believe that she was a huge fan of the Pride events just like I am. I think of her as someone who was certainly in our hearts and minds back, and I remember her prominence as I grew up during the 1980s; the American comedy programme Nine-to-Five, (or even 9-to-5) was seen in post-News at Ten slots in various ITV regions in around 1982-1983 and was a sideline to her music career. (No doubt that I won't be working "nine-to-five" writing this obituary!)
The song Nine-to-Five had all the charm of Leroy Anderson's The Typewriter, with keys being pressed to the music, and a vision of busy secretaries doing the job, working for their boss and getting the post (or mail) out on time. Meanwhile, back at the old place where I used to live growing up in 1988 when we were having the painter and decorator in, we had the "wireless" (radio, to you) on. When Parton's Jolene was playing on a local radio station, the decorator had admitted that it was his wife's name! According to the Everyhit website, it seemed that it was the only hit of Parton's that made it into the Top 40. Nine-to-Five did make it but towards the lower part of the Top 75 in around 1982 which I am surprised myself as to how familiar it was as a tune around the world. A year later, Islands in the Stream was another Parton song, duetted with the late Kenny Rogers, written by the Bee Gees (Barry, Maurice and Robin), and named after Ernest Hemingway's 1970 novel, which was published nine years after his death. One can hear the Bee Gees' familiar trademarked harmony in that song if one listens very carefully.
Sadly, it's a case of Goodbye Dolly rather than Hello Dolly, as well as a case of Here She Can't Come Again, any more... Rest in peace - she was a lovely lady.