REVIEW: Dolly Parton-inspired magic on a great night in Chichester

Here You Come Again is less a feel-good show, much more a feel-great show – a wonderfully upbeat slab of Dolly Parton-inspired nuttiness.

The gist is that, in the worst of the pandemic, Kevin has gone back to isolate in his parents’ attic and nurse his broken heart after being unceremoniously dumped by a ghastly boyfriend who then dithers and won’t leave him alone.

Slinging his loo rolls in through the window, Kevin is in a pretty bad way as he prepares to hunker down amid all the rediscovered memorabilia of his Dolly Parton-obsessed younger years – which is precisely the moment, Dolly wanders in through a poster of herself, ready and more than willing to dispense the pearls of wisdom she’s acquired amid her own struggles down the decades.

That’s the set-up, and show co-writer Tricia Paoluccio as Dolly and Steven Webb as Kevin do the rest, combining beautifully every step of the way for an evening which is as poignant as it is bonkers and never less than joyously, outrageously fun.

Webb (see interview here) plays Kevin with huge over-the-top expression and energy, conjuring the most endearing of characters as he starts to see a possible way ahead. Paoluccio is astonishing as Parton, the sound, the look, the manner, the everything.

And out the songs tumble. Islands in the Stream is maybe the highlight, but I Will Always Love You is sensationally done too in a show which consistently invites the audience in. Did you ever think you would be waving your phone torch at the CFT?

Maybe, just maybe, the night is a little thin at times, but the full-on positivity of its messaging bulks it out as we head towards redemption and self-discovery, just deep enough to make you think a little, but rightly pitched first and foremost at the level of pure entertainment.

Here You Come Again is a truly lovely night at the theatre. Great band too.