Here You Come Again at Leeds Playhouse

We Leeds theatregoers are currently going through a purple patch insofar as shows are concerned. From the phenomenal Come From Away, with its cast of thousands, through Common Ground performed by four travelling players in a fish and chip restaurant, the best adaptation of a Nineties romcom in Pretty Woman and now Here You Come Again, a wonderfully uplifting two-handed piece set to the music of Dolly Parton.

The main thing to say is that this is not a biography of Dolly Parton, nor is it a jukebox musical, but a superbly crafted story of a man, Kevin, who is in his thirties and going through a challenging time, finding his way with the help of his fairy godmother, Ms Parton. It was not only the writing and performances which were spot on, the set, the acting, the singing, the music and the venue were all perfect. For those not familiar with Leeds Playhouse, there are three auditoria; The Quarry, The Courtyard and Bramall Rock Void. As its name suggests, The Quarry is a sort of amphitheatre with the stage at floor level and the seating in steep tiers forming a semi-circle in front of it. This is the largest room and so would have taken away the intimacy of the atmosphere provided by The Courtyard, which is a more conventionally laid out space with a stage, stalls and a balcony. It also added to the feeling of confinement of lockdown – the period in which the show is set – which the Quarry could not have done. Bramall Rock Void would have been much better at doing this but is so small it would not have been a commercially viable option. A lot of the remaining performances already have limited availability so many people would have been denied the chance to enjoy this experience.

Sing-a-long-a-Dolly. Steven Webb as Kevin

Kevin, played by Steven Webb, is a gay man living in the attic of his parent’s house in Halifax – although I suspect the location may change with each stop on the tour, as it might not register with the good people of Great Malvern or Cheltenham. He is in a relationship, or is he, with a financier who works in the City of London but is of the ‘treat them mean to keep them keen’ school. This would place a strain on anyone’s mental stability in the best of times, but this play is set during lockdown, hence the attic self-isolation, so Kevin has nothing else to focus on, thus magnifying the stress.

His room is festooned with posters of his heroine, Dolly Parton, and he plays her music to escape from the confined situation in which he finds himself, until one day, there is a flash of light and an explosion heralding the arrival, as with all good fairy godmothers, of Dolly herself, played superbly by Tricia Paoluccio. There then follows a couple of hours of conversation, songs and dances which not only sorts out Kevin’s priorities, but does the same for we audience members.

What else could a chap want for comfort? Dolly Parton watching over you – and a giant size tub of Cheez Balls!

You don’t have to be gay to benefit from this show, nor do you necessarily need to be a Dolly Parton fan, although most of us were – Dolly Parton fans that is – as it is a universal message regarding the way in which we look at ourselves. The sexuality of Kevin was paramount in making this musical as powerful as it was, in that, firstly, Dolly Parton is probably the world’s greatest gay icon, so he was in more awe of her than if he had been straight, and secondly, it meant that the relationship between the two was on a friendly basis rather than there being an underlying sexual frisson and a ‘will they, won’t they’ tension detracting from the philosophical aspect.

I suppose I have made the show sound a bit worthy or pretentious, but nothing could be further from the truth. I don’t recall having laughed out loud so much at the theatre for ages. Steven Webb is a consummate comic actor with every movement and facial expression conveying his innermost thoughts, but most importantly, his timing was impeccable. Tricia Paoluccio was also perfect as Dolly, not only having the obvious physical trade marks, the accent and the voice but she had got the walk off to a tee. I was lucky enough to see Ms Parton in concert many years ago and you would be struggling to tell the difference except that this actress is a fair bit younger than her subject is now and hasn’t had the surgical procedures which make her face look expressionless, thus giving her a more natural air adding to the authenticity of the message.

A therapy session from Dr Parton.

To see just how brilliant Tricia Paoluccio is please click on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNyZu8BgqRI&t=173s to see her perform the title song, she is obviously wearing a wig in the show, along with cantilevered dresses!

The show began with the window of the attic opening and a succession of large packs of toilet rolls being flung in. This was followed by Kevin himself carrying the rest of his groceries. He had to utilise the dormer, which he accesses via a ladder in the garden, as he wasn’t allowed contact with his parents in the main body of the house. There then followed the ritual of unpacking his shopping and spraying the contents with sanitiser, including, during a lapse in concentration, a loaf of bread, which was unwrapped and so needed to be dumped. It was then a visit to the tiny toilet in the corner, and the washing of hands to the accompaniment of Happy Birthday To You, which was repeated to time the operation, the second version being sung far quicker than the first as we all did at some point. It is amazing how quickly these rituals have been confined to the dustbin section of our brains, as has the banging of a metal saucepan with a wooden spoon at eight every Thursday night, a gesture which took Dolly Parton quite by surprise.

The songs were imaginatively woven into the story and performed superbly. All but two of them were by Dolly Parton, the only exceptions were Just Someone I Used To Know, employed to tell the story of Kevin’s long-lost real love, written by Jack H Clement, and Islands In The Stream, from Robin, Barry and Maurice Gibb.

Islands in the attic.

The musicians; Richard John on keyboard; Alex Akira Crawford, guitar; Ben Scott, drums and Kevin Oliver Jones on bass and harmonica more than did justice to the songs as did the backing vocalists Adrian Cutler, who is the understudy for Steven Webb and provided the voice for his dad, and Charlotte Elisabeth Yorke, the understudy for Tricia Poluccio and the voice of Kevin’s mum.

There was the obligatory set list of Jolene, Butterfly, I Will Always Love You and the eponymous Here You Come Again, but my favourite was Two Doors Down (They’re Laughing And Singing And Having A Party) which included the musicians and backing singers in celebratory mode along with a life-size cardboard cutout of Boris Johnson resplendent in party hat and streamers – sorry, it must have been a work meeting.

At the end of the performance, those who had not indulged in the American habit of standing to applaud, were urged to get up and dance to a medley of the featured songs. I needed no second invitation on that score – pardon the pun. In a mood of elation we left the theatre taking with us the advice of the great philosopher, Dolly Rebecca Parton. ‘Spend less time looking in mirrors and more looking through windows’.

The big finish. Dolly, Kevin, the backing singers and the band.

One final thing. I would be neglecting my duty towards you, my dear reader, should I fail to point out one huge downside to this show, and that is although it has been four days since I saw it I can’t get the title song out of my mind and it is driving me crazy. Not so much an ear worm as a python, so here I go!

Here You Come Again, written by Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre and Tricia Paoluccio with additional material from Jonathan Harvey was Directed by Gabriel Barre and runs at Leeds Playhouse until Saturday, 8th June so make sure that you get a ticket for this amazing show. To do so click on https://www.leedsplayhouse.org.uk/event/here-you-come-again-3/

For details of the rest of the tour it is https://hereyoucomeagain.co.uk/

To see what is in the pipeline at Leeds Playhouse go to https://www.leedsplayhouse.org.uk/whats-on/

Photographs by Hugo Glendinning