Beg your Parton!

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Off to the Lighthouse Theatre in town tonight with Jo, Janet, Helen and Carol to see Dolly Parton and her Country Superstar friends. 😉

I don’t think any of us were completely sure what this evening would be like – all we knew what that it was a group of tribute acts. But by the time the curtain went up, it was pretty much a full house, so that was surely a good sign! I’m not particularly a country fan, but I do like a good tune. With that in mind, how much of the evening would be devoted to ‘just’ Dolly with her country superstar friends in support – or it would be an even mix of talent on stage?

We settled into our front-row seats in the Circle and waited for the Superstars to appear. Interestingly (or not) the over-the-air announcement positively encouraged us to take photos during the performance and share them (no video though!) as much as we liked! 👍

It was to turn out to be a very ‘interconnected’ evening (more about that later) where the entertainers really engaged with their audience. I guess it was quite a logistical exercise to get all these tribute acts all in one place – and in sleepy Kettering too! – so hats off to the promoters and organisers🤔

Yee hah!!

7.31pm: We’re off! With the five-piece Band, Dolly acted as our host for this rainy Friday night and launched into many of her hits including: ‘Jolene’, ‘Here You Come Again’ and ‘Applejack’. Actually, she was a really good lookalike and soundalike too. A powerful voice together with that familiar twang made for a very convincing Dolly! It already felt like we were in for a great time – there was already a couple dancing in the aisles and we were only 10 minutes in! 😉👍. We were all hoping that the rest of the acts were as good!

Dolly introduced her next guest – Johnny Cash – as she left the stage. He did a few of his better-known songs, and again, he was pretty convincing. Tribute acts are a big thing these days, sometimes sounding as good as, or even better than, their source material! He didn’t disappoint and there was no need to work the audience, as we were already clapping in time (and the aisle was getting even busier now below us!) 👍

Next up was a rather strange looking act. I quickly learned that this was ‘Billie Jo Spears‘ and I wasn’t sure what it was, but she ‘looked’ a bit odd. Anyway, her singing was a good as those that had come before, and when she launched into ‘Blanket on the Ground’ pretty much everyone in the audience was joining in.

Garth Brooks appeared next with a facial hair that had been chiselled within an inch of its life and looking every inch a ‘man’s man’ (jealous? moi?). This was an energetic performance where his daily step count will have been impressive by the end of this turn.

Tammy Wynette followed Garth and gave us first-class performances of ‘D.I.V.O.R.C.E‘. and ‘Stand by your Man’. Another powerful and authentic performance!

Then it got really spooky – in a good way! Tammy handed over to John Denver who looked so much like err, John Denver, we all had to do a double-take. It was when he launched into ‘Annie’s Song’ that the goosebumps started! Yikes, this was uncanny! If you closed your eyes, it could have been the real John Denver. Fantastic talent and they were lucky (and so were we) to have all these acts.

8.45pm: A short 20-minute intermission gave all the acts time to get their breath back AND an opportunity for us all to compare notes. We all agreed that it had all been really good so far. There was some talk about ‘Was Dolly also Tammy’? and ‘Glen’ also ‘Garth’? I’d already thought that there was some duplication for some of the acts – but surely not ALL of them??? My fellow music-lovers (ie EVERYONE else!) were confident that the Green Room wasn’t anywhere near as full as I thought it was!! Ann had a radical view that it was also a FAMILY affair – and they were husband and wife AND the backing vocalist (who only appeared briefly) was their daughter. OK, very ‘EastEnders’ and we dismissed the idea as being too radical.

Meanwhile, I was still reeling from the shock that I may have missed the obvious and where this evening’s spectacle of singers was down to just TWO people. Surely not?

Glen Campbell was our next Superstar (they were certainly coming thick and fast!) and you can imagine the anticipation in the Green Room whilst all these acts queued, waiting for their turn to entertain us! – or were they? 😉

I was now scrutinising each act even more closely during the second half! Shania led another energetic performance including her hits: ‘You’re Still the One’ and ‘That Don’t Impress Me’ and the truth was slowly (very slowly) beginning to dawn on me! Yes, this was the same person who I’d/We’d seen earlier. The pennies had now finally dropped. OK, I was now convinced it WAS just a single woman playing all the female parts tonight. How did I miss that?

Willie Nelson joined the band on stage. Well, at least this couldn’t possibly be the same person who was also Dolly Parton – at least I got that bit right! But was it the same guy who we seen in the first half? Having looked even more closely, realisation at last!!! 😉. I blame my medication! Doh!!!! 🙃😕😖. Superb renditions of ‘You Were Always on my Mind’ and ‘On the Road Again’ followed.

Now it was the turn of Patsy Cline. With my now newly discovered ‘suspicious head’ could this be the same person, who, ten minutes before, had appeared as Shania Twain? Surely not? This performer walked differently, looked much older and had completely different mannerisms. A closer look revealed she now even sported different-coloured nail varnish! Talk about ‘method acting’… talk about ‘Mr Stoopid’. If we’d had goosebumps earlier when John Denver sang, this was ‘goosebumps on goosebumps’ when we heard the 1961 hit: ‘Crazy’. Wow! 🥰

Kenny Rogers was the final act of the evening and as the full realisation of my previously poor observation skills hit home, at least I was certain this wasn’t the same person as the singer who’s portrayed Dolly Parton earlier!

…especially as they rounded off the evening with a duet featuring both Kenny Rogers AND Dolly Parton at the same time! 😉👍. ‘Islands in the Stream’ was performed with all the passion and professionalism of the original artists. And in a final reveal during the ‘thanks to everyone’ part by our host, Dolly revealed that she was really ‘Sarah Jayne’ and ‘Kenny’ was ‘Andy Crust’. The background vocalist (who appeared earlier and towards the end of the show) was their daughter, Lucy. Mrs P was right, and our jaws collectively dropped! 😲

10.30pm: Longer than we imagined it would be (in a good way) we left the Theatre just after 10.30pm. It had been a fantastic evening. Eleven Country singers for the price of two – and each ‘one’ at the top of their game. The support band – the Country Superstars Band were equally skilled and probably could have hosted an evening of their own!

Great to see such a polished performance – and locally too! Go see! 👍

Read more about them HERE