Here you come again – Sunderland Empire 11.02.2025
Invited | Review by Stephen Stokoe
There is something magical about going to see a new musical – well there is for me anyway. I am always keen not to read up on it beforehand and certainly not to hear the soundtrack. This proved to be a little difficult with Here You Come Again because the music comes largely from the back catalogue of Dolly Parton’s greatest hits but that only served to make this little fan boy even more excited to see this newest musical using the musical from the Doyenne of Dollywood herself.
Picture the scene and the time. You are living in the attic of your parents’ home having returned from the big city at the height of a global pandemic under somewhat inauspicious circumstances. Your partner, for reasons of their own has cajoled you into taking an unwanted ‘break’ from your relationship and your only company is the disembodied voices of your mum and dad echoing from the rooms below, your access to your ‘Penthouse’ is via a rickety ladder pressed against the wall and your only solace, the much loved collection of Dolly Parton LPs as you wonder whether the world wide global pandemic will ever end. Will your love affair, with the affluent but aloof Jeremy be rekindled, and what is ever to become of your ailing career near comedy.
This are the dilemma and quandaries that haunt out hero, Kevin (Steven Webb) as he isolates in the attic of his parents home in Halifax for the duration of the various lockdowns of Covid-19. When we first meet Kevin his is returning from a shopping expedition. There are several visual gags to this entrance not least of which is that he has bought more toilet paper than any individual will need were he to be quarantined for the rest of his existence, proving that this was to be an evening of fun, gentle poking at the absurdities of the pandemic, and a story that was not going to take itself at all seriously. And so it proved.
There is, however, a serious side to the narrative and I show not on iota of embarrassment that I shed a tear or two before the end of the show, especially when Kevin addresses his no nonsense Yorkshire father towards the end of the story and gets called ‘A daft ha’ppeth.’
Kevin is a 40-something year old homosexual, well of course he is, we’ve already established that his estranged boyfriend is called Jeremy, a hedge fund manager from London, but that is almost irrelevant to the story, Kevin could be anyone, with a fixation on the buxom cowgirl. His predicament happened, quite a lot at the time, and the stagnation he is feeling in his life does not, is not in any way peculiar to persons of his sexuality. The fact that he is gay only makes the story more glitzy and glamorous alongside the ultimate pink princess that is Dolly Parton.
As the entirety of the show is set in Kevin’s current abode, the set is static until the very end. What it lacks in change it more than makes up for in campness. My parents had a wooden nativity decoration that use to be trotted out every year regular as clockwork. The set reminded me very much of this – especially when, as the season progressed, tinsel, all manner of glittery baubles shed their Yuletide blessings upon it and the colourful fairy lights shone down from above. Okay, what I am actually saying is that the set (Paul Wills) is as camp as Christmas and is all the more joyful for it. If I ever have a conversation with Mr Wills, I will ask him my lingering questions, not so much about the pink flamingo but there are answers to be sought about some of the other hilarious accoutrement adorning Kevin’s rather cosy attic room. I must admit, I would rather like one of my own!
The music, as we have already established is from the extensive back catalogue of Dolly Parton. Some weave their merry way effortlessly into the delightful storyline and some are jemmied in with a crowbar. For me, this adds to the appeal of the piece and becomes a rather delightful and zany musical romp as we discover the thoughts of the minds of Kevin and, occasionally Dolly, as they make their way into the audience’s hearts.
I sometimes marvel at the type of mind that comes up with the idea of some musicals. I mean if you said to your friends ‘Hey let’s make a musical about a manic depressive man, marooned somewhere, get him sloshed and then start having delusions that he is meeting his superstar heroine as his life is slowly falling apart’ they may very well think that you were having some sort of psychotic episode. Not so the writers of ‘Here You Come Again.’ They (Bruce Vilanche, Gabriel Barre and Tricia Paoluccia) have created something that is as heart-warming as it is camp, as joyous as it is mindful, and as completely bonkers as it is entirely conceivable. I commend them for their skill, imagination and the amount of sheer joy and love that has undoubtedly gone into the piece.
Originally conceived for an American market, the writers sought out a Brit to assist in adapting the libretto for the UK market. Who better than prolific queer, and not necessarily so queer writer, the wonderful Jonathan Harvey? His skill at eking out Northern humour and peculiarities is bread and butter for this legendary writer and I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the skyscape atop the set was a less than subtle but affectionate nod to his continued involvement with the writing of a certain long running soap opera set a few miles west of Halifax.
Steven Webb (The Book of Mormon, The History Boys) is no stranger to me so I was not surprised in the slightest that he was able, vocally, to hold his own with Dolly Parton (Tricia Paolucchio) who puts in an authentic and outstanding shift as Kevin’s hero songstress. Dolly’s band and backing vocalists were on hand to belt out the numbers and to even provide the voices for any other characters who made an appearance. Emma Jayne Fearnley offered some particularly impressive backing vocals and it does not surprise me in the least that she is the understudy Dolly for the tour. Adding musical artistic verisimilitude to the event are Jordan Li-Smith on keyboard, Luke Adams on guitar, Ben Scott on drums and Kevin Oliver Jones playing bass and harmonica. Jayne is backed up further on vocals by Aidan Cutler and Austin Garrett.
I wholeheartedly recommend Here You Come Again to anyone for a thoroughly enjoyable night out at the theatre. It is a show that may not open your mind, but it will sure have your toes a-tappin’ and warm the very cockles of your heart. Once seen, I quite honestly say, I will always love this show.