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New York Times
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
In Nashville, a Homecoming for Dolly Parton and Her Musical
They came from across the country and drove in from the rest of Tennessee on Friday, braving the steamy heat of Nashville after a summer storm in sparkling boots, sequined jackets and butterfly accessories. There was even a blonde wig or two, piled high. It was fitting for the first public performance of the musical biography of the woman Tennessee proudly claims as one of its own: Dolly Parton. 'She wanted her people to see it,' said Kim Mynatt, 61, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., the first in line with her husband at least two hours before the curtain rose at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on Friday. 'That's one of the things I love about her.' Nashville, of course, has its own Broadway: the downtown strip of honky-tonks and performance venues that has cultivated generations of musical talent. Yet it is an unusual place for a theater production, already aiming for a 2026 opening on Broadway in New York, to hold its world premiere. Unless, of course, that show is the story of Dolly Parton. 'Dolly's what got me here,' said Mynatt, who wore a 1989 Dollywood seasonal shirt — one of at least 30 Parton-themed shirts she owns — and one of Parton's official pink butterfly statement necklaces. 'The woman has never disappointed.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Fisher Center at Bard Announces Civis Hope Commissions
Hope may seem daring in this age of angst and uncertainty, but it is at the heart of three major new works coming to the Fisher Center at Bard, including a musical adaptation of 'Yentl the Yeshiva Boy,' the performing arts center announced on Tuesday. With a $2.5 million gift from the Civis Foundation, matched by Bard College for an initial endowment of $5 million, the Fisher Center said it would create the Civis Hope Commissions, a program to support 'contemporary artists who will examine, interrogate and transform American artifacts, archival materials or artworks from the past to imagine a more perfect, just and hopeful future.' Gideon Lester, the Fisher Center's artistic director and chief executive, described the program in an interview as 'a rallying cry for the possibility of art.' 'Art can describe things as they might be,' he said, 'and see things not only as they are framed by the current news cycle. Great art has the ability to shift our consciousness and show us what we might become if we were really inhabiting our best selves. That's what these commissions are really about.' The Civis Hope Commissions are intended to continue in perpetuity, but the Fisher Center announced three projects to start: 'Jubilee,' a new musical with a libretto by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, based on Scott Joplin's opera 'Treemonisha'; Courtney Bryan's first opera, an adaptation of Tennessee Williams's 'Suddenly Summer'; and the 'Yentl' musical, which will be the celebrated director Barrie Kosky's first project developed in the United States. These commissions had already been in the works at the Fisher Center, but were chosen for the Civis program because they fit its mandate, Lester said, adding that working under the Civis umbrella allowed him and the artists 'an opportunity to think about them in a new way.' Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
