Speaker 1: Who doesn't love a bit of Dolly.
Speaker 2: Lit By, So just use your mind then never give
Speaker 2: you credit. A love for service and revolution.
Speaker 1: That it was a good movie too. Ninety five comes
Speaker 1: across the desk and I go yeah, And I said
Speaker 1: to Jay, we're going to see we can talk to
Speaker 1: somebody from this getting underway. From here you come again,
Speaker 1: the dazzling musical comedy pat with Dolly Partner's greatest hits.
Speaker 1: Why would you not? It's fantastic from all reports, it's
Speaker 1: so just wonderful. It's put together by a couple of
Speaker 1: great producers, and audience is right across Australia from a
Speaker 1: think twelve July. Have I've got that right? The national
Speaker 1: tour at Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Newcastle, Camera, Adelaide and everywhere
Speaker 1: in between, playing the role of the keV. Sheould be
Speaker 1: called Kevin the Musical. It says he Kevin the Musical.
Speaker 1: We're playing the role of Kevin in the musical is
Speaker 1: a dash crook dash good morning.
Speaker 3: Good morning. Thank you for that uput the on the
Speaker 3: title and I'll take that to the producer.
Speaker 1: I think you should Ken. Let's do it. Let's call
Speaker 1: it Kevin the Musical. There's a if you get somebody
Speaker 1: to write that for you, there's a big hit just there.
Speaker 3: I think I think leaning on Dolly might be the stronger,
Speaker 3: stronger call card.
Speaker 1: There, but it is when I saw this come across
Speaker 1: the desk, because I don't know what age demographic you
Speaker 1: are approximately, dash, but there's not too many of us
Speaker 1: who don't have some level of affection for a Dolly partner.
Speaker 1: And what she's meant, what she's done over many many years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, she's had an incredible career and her
Speaker 3: catalog of song speaks for itself, and and and the
Speaker 3: great thing about this show is that we've managed to
Speaker 3: get so many of her big hits in there for
Speaker 3: the people who are you know, Dolly of Fishinado's, but
Speaker 3: also some some ones that maybe the big fans will
Speaker 3: know but other people don't. That really kind of drive
Speaker 3: this story forward.
Speaker 1: This has been put together by a couple of the
Speaker 1: Emmy Award winning writers I think Bruce Valanche and Gabriel
Speaker 1: I mean, they've been around for a little while so
Speaker 1: when they do this, so it's going to be more
Speaker 1: than just presenting the music, presuming it's weaved a story,
Speaker 1: weave through it.
Speaker 3: It's been Yeah, it's an incredible piece itself. I had
Speaker 3: the chance to see it over in London when I
Speaker 3: was over there recently, and it's just it's beautiful. The
Speaker 3: good thing about this I mean Bruce Valances, he's a
Speaker 3: bit of comedy writer for years and years. He wrote
Speaker 3: for the Emmy or for the for the Oscars for
Speaker 3: fourteen years. He's an Emmy Award winning runner and will
Speaker 3: be Goldberg's writer. But Medlay he's got such a legacy,
Speaker 3: so it's got his humor and wittne it. But Gabriel Barry,
Speaker 3: our code writer and director. He brings this beautiful empathy
Speaker 3: to this show. So you get to follow my character
Speaker 3: Kevin on this journey through one of the darkest times
Speaker 3: that we all kind of relate to, which is COVID recently,
Speaker 3: which was a time where I guess we all had
Speaker 3: to kind of reevaluate what we were doing and where
Speaker 3: we were at. And in the middle of all this
Speaker 3: chaos comes this angel, I guess in the form of
Speaker 3: Dolly Putt, who co guided my character through this kind
Speaker 3: of redemption arc of kind of trying to found out
Speaker 3: who we are and what we're here for and what
Speaker 3: we actually care about, which.
Speaker 1: Is an ongoing investigation for many of us.
Speaker 3: Oh indeed, I don't think anybody could not relate to that.
Speaker 1: Tell me about your start where you grew up with.
Speaker 3: I grew up in Brisbane actually and started out in
Speaker 3: theater up there, and then I've just been lucky enough
Speaker 3: to kind of gods doing this job.
Speaker 1: And was it all about performing, singing and dancy. You
Speaker 1: didn't go to one of the big word opera or anything
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 3: I didn't go to opera. I did study, but I
Speaker 3: started up in Queensland. I did a couple of degrees
Speaker 3: in theater, in making theater and then acting as well.
Speaker 3: So I've been lucky enough to kind of work in
Speaker 3: all different fasts in the industry and directing and writing
Speaker 3: and performing. So it's been a really, a really exciting
Speaker 3: career that's taken me all over the place.
Speaker 1: You talk about those COVID years, I mean we will
Speaker 1: always talk about that, often be referred now to wonder
Speaker 1: it is the so called COVID years been tough, I
Speaker 1: would have thought for a young working performer.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean everything right up. I mean it's
Speaker 3: tough for everyone. It kind of puts a I guess
Speaker 3: it paused your life in a way where you just
Speaker 3: had to sit in it for a while and evaluate
Speaker 3: what it was that you were doing and why you
Speaker 3: were doing it. And in that sense, for me, it
Speaker 3: kind of made me shift a little in terms of
Speaker 3: I took a little step away from performing for a
Speaker 3: while and moved back into other the creative side of things,
Speaker 3: in directing and things like that, so that I could
Speaker 3: have a bit more controllable what I put out into
Speaker 3: the world. And this show was so wonderful and so joyous.
Speaker 3: And the producer I'd worked with previously, elas and Kaine,
Speaker 3: She's just such a wonderful producer and such a wonderful
Speaker 3: human And I knew that she doesn't take on things
Speaker 3: that she doesn't really believe in, and when I saw
Speaker 3: this show, I understood why, because it's just such a gorgeous,
Speaker 3: heartfelt joyous so that it was it actually pulled me
Speaker 3: back into the world performing and I'm so excited jump
Speaker 3: into it.
Speaker 1: And these things are very important dash I think for
Speaker 1: a range of reasons, the least of which A provides
Speaker 1: hopefully some work for some very great, wonderful younger artists.
Speaker 1: And it's the exposure around Australia. A for people who
Speaker 1: already know the work of Dolly. This is one of
Speaker 1: the previous courses. It's not necessarily great fan but it's
Speaker 1: really hard to deny what she's done over as I
Speaker 1: said earlier, many many decades, and exposed that to a
Speaker 1: new gen, yet another new gen.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, the thing about Dolly is that she she is
Speaker 3: fastidious in how she has created her brand and her
Speaker 3: business and how she's created her self. She she is
Speaker 3: so intelligent and so tenacious, and she will not let
Speaker 3: anything go out unless that has her name on it,
Speaker 3: unless she's one hundred percent on board with it, and
Speaker 3: thankfully she has. She's given her blessing for this show.
Speaker 3: She actually had to approve it herself personally, and she's
Speaker 3: on top of everything, and she has made these decisions
Speaker 3: throughout her career that kind of went against the mainstream
Speaker 3: in a lot of ways. She knows who she is
Speaker 3: and she's very confident in that, and she's very confident
Speaker 3: in telling other people that the best way forward and
Speaker 3: the best way to create your your future is to
Speaker 3: really lean in to the things that make you who
Speaker 3: you are. And I think that's a it's a it's
Speaker 3: a really incredible message, and it's something about you know,
Speaker 3: she was a feminist before feminism, she's she's an incredible
Speaker 3: intelligent woman. So yeah, there's a lot lot to be
Speaker 3: gained from her.
Speaker 1: How hard is there somebody to learn this those songs
Speaker 1: when you're doing a show like this, to learn the
Speaker 1: lyrics and learn and embrace yourself in everything Dolly?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean it's not hard because she's she's such
Speaker 3: a joy.
Speaker 1: But it is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like these songs are songs that you know, for me,
Speaker 3: I grew up kind of listening to or hearing on
Speaker 3: the radio. Wherever I went, there was always a Dolly
Speaker 3: song around, and you know that there was a time
Speaker 3: there where you couldn't you couldn't go anywhere without hearing
Speaker 3: Hearing Islands and the Dream with her and Kenny Rot.
Speaker 3: So it's really been part of my DNA growing up,
Speaker 3: I guess. And so then to kind of put it
Speaker 3: into this context and put it in a story that
Speaker 3: when I read the script is the very first time
Speaker 3: I really saw myself in this character as well. You know,
Speaker 3: getting to a certain age and questioning where you've come
Speaker 3: in your life and where you're going and what's important.
Speaker 3: I was probably in a very similar place, so it
Speaker 3: really resonated with me. And then through the lyrics of
Speaker 3: these songs and through the music, I've just found a
Speaker 3: new appreciation for all of these songs that have kind
Speaker 3: of grown up loving.
Speaker 1: The islands in the stream. You know, I've heard it
Speaker 1: as zillion times, We've all heard it as zillion times
Speaker 1: written by the Beg's, but arguably one of the best
Speaker 1: songs of all time. They're not everybody's going to necessarily
Speaker 1: agree with that, but in terms of airplay and a
Speaker 1: great you know, it's a wonderful stable of radio stations
Speaker 1: around the world to this day.
Speaker 3: It is still to this day the most successful duet
Speaker 3: record a duet of all time, so it's quite a legacy. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The show itself runs for what I'm thinking up to
Speaker 1: ninety minutes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's it's actually to actually get a nice
Speaker 3: little break in the middle as well. But yeah, it's
Speaker 3: if we put the entire Dolly catalog in there, we'd
Speaker 3: be there all week. But I think you're in and
Speaker 3: out just haveing ninety minutes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, in ninety minutes, it's incredible, I guess from a
Speaker 1: producer's point of view. What do you put in and
Speaker 1: what do you what do you not use?
Speaker 3: Well, this is where I think the writers and the
Speaker 3: creators have really been wise in that they put in
Speaker 3: all of the hits that you know and love. You know,
Speaker 3: you're nine to five joel Aine Islands in the Stream,
Speaker 3: I will always so many hits, but there's all these
Speaker 3: other songs that are woven in there that have been
Speaker 3: very carefully picked to drive this emotional journey forward. It's
Speaker 3: a I think it's sums it up. When I saw
Speaker 3: it in London, a woman came up to me in
Speaker 3: the four Yer. She didn't know that I was about
Speaker 3: to come over here and be that role in Australia,
Speaker 3: but she just grabbed me. She was just so thrilled
Speaker 3: after the show, and she said, wasn't that wonderful? She said.
Speaker 3: I came in here just because I love Dolly Parton,
Speaker 3: she said, but this isn't a show for Dolly Parton fans.
Speaker 3: This I just feel so joyful and so hopeful, and
Speaker 3: I can walk out into the world feeling like I
Speaker 3: know who I am and what I've got to do,
Speaker 3: and I just think, wow, that's a great review. I'll
Speaker 3: take that. And she doesn't know that, but that's that's
Speaker 3: driving this over here in Australia. I've just I've thought
Speaker 3: about her so many times and I'm just like, that's
Speaker 3: the experience that I hope people get over here as well.
Speaker 1: You play the role of the keV and in his
Speaker 1: Wonnerful show, and I've got a couple of texts saying,
Speaker 1: what was Kevin in the role of Dolly Parton?
Speaker 3: Well, Kevin. Kevin is kind of just an every man really,
Speaker 3: He's this guy during covid'. He's kind of followed his dreams.
Speaker 3: He was a country boy growing up. He moves to
Speaker 3: the big city to try to make it big and
Speaker 3: it doesn't necessarily go quite according to plan. His love
Speaker 3: life has been on the rocks, his career has been
Speaker 3: on the rocks, and then he's been thrust back into
Speaker 3: his childhood home living with his parents, and it's really
Speaker 3: put him in a place where he's just questioned what
Speaker 3: his decisions have got him in his life and who
Speaker 3: he truly is. But the one stable in his life
Speaker 3: from a child to an adult, is that he always
Speaker 3: loved Dolly Parton. He's he They call his bedroom the
Speaker 3: Dolly Parton Palace. He's got posters on his wall and whatever.
Speaker 3: So in this, in this particular show, Dolly Parton kind
Speaker 3: of comes to him in a vision. He gets to
Speaker 3: spend this time and learn about what's important to him
Speaker 3: through her music and through the way that she kind
Speaker 3: of talks about life. If you've ever seen her in
Speaker 3: an interview or you know, you can see that she's
Speaker 3: so grounded into nation. She only exists in this world
Speaker 3: to bring other people hope and joy, and she never
Speaker 3: kind of waivers from that. Even during the COVID crisis,
Speaker 3: you know, like she put in so much money to
Speaker 3: she was one of the people that really drove the vaccines.
Speaker 3: She funded one of the main vaccines that has saved
Speaker 3: you know, millions. She did.
Speaker 1: She's incredibly in many many ways. Well, she's going to
Speaker 1: tell you. Over the years, I've interviewed two point eight
Speaker 1: million people who have been involved in these programs and
Speaker 1: nobody has been better than you in terms of just
Speaker 1: talking about a show like this, And I congratulate you
Speaker 1: on that. It comes up on I think it's Melbourne
Speaker 1: Comedy Theater, The Beautiful Comedy Theater in Melbourne. I think
Speaker 1: that's from twelfth July Ticketek Perth beautiful Regal Theater. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you've played over there. It's great, the
Speaker 1: ticket takers well from twenty second of August and in Adelaide,
Speaker 1: Her Majesty's Theater. Out of the places around the world,
Speaker 1: I think you're doing Newcastle, canber and Sydney as well,
Speaker 1: but Melbourne from the twelfth of July. And Dash it's
Speaker 1: great to talk to you on the program Australia overnight.
Speaker 3: It's been my pleasure. Thank you so much for having.
Speaker 1: Me in a wonderful dash Cook have a look at it.
Speaker 1: It is called Simply Here You Come Again. The Australian
Speaker 1: cast has been announced. Dolly's Greatest Hits takes to the stage.