George Maguire
(Picture: Manuel Harlan)Though Dolly Parton is a goddess, my hopes weren’t high for her musical transposition of Dickens to depression-era Tennessee, which started life as a 40-minute “presentation” at her theme park, Dollywood. More fool me.
Hardscrabble Appalachian life in 1936 has clear parallels with Victorian poverty, and Dolly and Dickens share a mile-wide sentimental streak. Her new songs here are all good and sometimes excellent, and the show is carried with glee and gusto by the tight ensemble and hoedown band around Robert Bathurst’s gruffly southern Scrooge.
