Katie Rose Clarke will play Dolly Parton when DOLLY: A True Original Musical begins previews at the St. James Theatre on December 7, heading a first group of five principals whom Parton handpicked herself. Alongside the casting, the producers have committed 30,000 free tickets to New York City public school students over the show’s first year on Broadway.
Clarke brings the title role over from the musical’s world premiere in Nashville last summer, a sold-out engagement that became the most successful production in the history of the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Belmont University. Her Broadway credits include Beth in the Tony-winning revival of Merrily We Roll Along, a long run as Glinda in Wicked, and her debut as Clara Johnson in Lincoln Center Theater’s The Light in the Piazza, staged by Bartlett Sher, who also directs this production.
Carrie St. Louis, who took part in some of the earliest readings of the musical and played the same part in Nashville, is cast as Dolly, the ambitious young singer-songwriter trying to break into the Nashville music business. She has just finished playing Sandra Dee in Just in Time on Broadway. Eleven-year-old Norah Nunes, from Texas and a finalist in the online “Search for Dolly” open casting call, makes a Broadway debut as Little Dolly.
John Behlmann, a GRAMMY and Outer Critics Circle Award nominee, returns from Nashville as Carl Dean, Parton’s husband of almost 60 years; he is currently playing Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby on Broadway. Tony winner Gabriel Ebert, whose award came for Matilda the Musical, plays Porter Wagoner, the country star who first introduced Parton to a national television audience. More casting is to follow.
Speaking for the producers, Adam Speers of ATG Productions said: “It’s a rare privilege to create a musical alongside the person whose story you’re telling, and working with Dolly on this show will always be special.” Choosing the actors, he said, was the part of the production Parton cared about most, and she “wanted performers with strength, kindness, and humanity as well as talent.”
The student tickets come through a partnership with the New York City Department of Education and are aimed at public middle and high schools. Schools can apply to bring groups, and individual students can apply for a pair of tickets so that a parent or guardian can come with them. Fuller details of the program are due in the coming weeks. Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said many of those students would be seeing Broadway for the first time, adding: “What better story to begin with than that of Dolly Parton’s?”
The score pairs Parton’s own hits, among them Jolene, 9 to 5, Coat of Many Colors and I Will Always Love You, with songs she wrote for the show, and she shares the book credit with two-time Emmy winner Maria S. Schlatter. Mandy Moore choreographs, with sets by Derek McLane, costumes by Jennifer Moeller, lighting by Donald Holder, sound by Peter Hylenski and video by Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom. Stephen Oremus is music supervisor and Charity Wicks music director. The producers are Parton, Danny Nozell, Speers for ATG Productions, and Gavin Kalin Productions.
Previews begin Monday, December 7, 2026, at the St. James Theatre, 246 West 44th Street, ahead of an opening night on Tuesday, January 19, 2027, which would have been Parton’s 81st birthday. The initial booking period runs through Sunday, November 21, 2027, with tickets on sale at dollymusical.com, and the producers note the show may not suit children aged 8 and under. A video of the five actors coming together as a company for the first time has also been released.
