Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol goes back on the road on 14 November, opening at the Chuck Mathena Center in Princeton, West Virginia, and playing 25 cities before it finishes at Clowes Hall in Indianapolis on 23 December.
The adaptation moves Dickens a long way from London. It is set in the 1930s Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, and Ebenezer Scrooge becomes the owner of a mining company town, which turns a story about a miser into one about a man who owns the houses his workers live in.
Parton wrote the music and lyrics. The book is by David H. Bell, who adapted it for the stage with Paul T. Couch and Curt Wollan. She described the production as "my love letter to the Smoky Mountains, to Christmas", and to the idea that love, compassion and generosity are things anyone can give.
This is the first holiday run since Parton died in August, which gives the quotes around it a different weight. Couch said the holidays always held a special place in her heart and that this year the love behind them feels significantly more poignant, framing the tour as a way for audiences to spend time with songs she wrote.
The routing favours regional theatres over big cities. After three West Virginia stops the run goes to Sheboygan and Appleton in Wisconsin, then Minneapolis and Omaha, then Tyler and Lubbock in Texas before the end of November.
December runs south and then back north: Pensacola, Macon, Oxford in Mississippi, Baton Rouge, Orange in Texas and Fayetteville in Arkansas, before Wheeling, a two-night stand at the Fox Theatre in Detroit on 11 and 12 December, Wabash, Toledo, New Philadelphia, Akron and two nights in Midland, Michigan.
Tickets for all performances are on sale now. The run is on the tour guide and more on her catalogue sits on our country hub. We reported Parton's death at 80 in August and Dollywood's plans for new attractions honouring her shortly after.
The facts
- The run opens on 14 November at the Chuck Mathena Center in Princeton, West Virginia.
- It is scheduled to visit 25 cities.
- It closes at Clowes Hall in Indianapolis on 23 December.
- The musical is set in the 1930s Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee.
- Ebenezer Scrooge is recast as the owner of a mining company town.
- Dolly Parton wrote the music and lyrics.
- David H. Bell wrote the book and adapted it with Paul T. Couch and Curt Wollan.
- Tickets for all performances are on sale now.
How this checks out
Single source
Reported by a single outlet
Only one outlet has reported it so far, so it stays a single source.
Cited sources 1
Every outlet that reported this, linked to what it published. Equal credits, in alphabetical order.