Of all the versions of A Christmas Carol currently being staged in London (I’ve counted 11), Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol has by far the most unusual premise: transporting Dickens’ classic tale to the rootin’-tootin’ world of 1930s Tennessee. Here, Ebeneezer “Eben” Scrooge (Robert Bathurst) has a gruff southern drawl, a Mr Monolopy-esque moustache and a heart as dark as the coal mines he owns. Cheesy? Yep. Mawkish? Maybe. Cringeworthy? Oh, absolutely. But there’s some fun to be found along the way.
It’ll be Parton’s name that draws punters to this Christmas Carol, but they will most likely leave disappointed – the queen of country only appears in voice form at the beginning to remind us to turn off our phones (something they didn’t have in those simpler Tennessee times, she quips). That said, her presence is felt throughout the music and lyrics she’s penned. In the strongest songs (“Appalachian Snowfall”, “Down Home Country Christmas”), you can imagine Dolly herself is singing, with Sarah O’Connor serving as a perfect stand-in, from the cadence of her voice to her perky-as-a-daffodil mannerisms.
