Review: DOLLY PARTON'S SMOKY MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS CAROL, Queen Elizabeth Hall

How much does the world love Dolly Parton? Let me count the ways. She gave $1m to help fund the Moderna vaccine which has saved around two million lives, she started up in 2007 the UK branch of the Imagination Library which every month now donates more than 40,000 books and she wrote "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You" on the very same day.

This modern secular saint has earned her place in many hearts but, even though she doesn't appear here, does her Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol melt hearts too? Set in 1936 in a snowy Bible Belt mining town, we immediately know we're in the South when Scrooge's nephew Fred (a zesty Danny Whitehead) walks in and declares to Cratchit (George Maguire) that, despite the inclement weather, he's as warm as "a flea on a hot dog". If that isn't enough to clue us in, Cratchit (no first name, just Cratchit) laments that his boss "pinches his pennies to hear them squeal" and this Christmas Eve is "angrier than a wet rooster".

This musical's origins can be traced back to a forty-minute version written for Dollywood, Parton's theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Its director (Curt Wollan) and writer (David H Bell) collaborated with Dollywood producer Paul Couch and Dolly herself to expand that show into this two-hour-plus plenty-singing-plenty-dancing production set in the fictional Morton's Hollow, Tennessee. After being developed in Massachusetts, Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol debuted in Boston just before the Covid pandemic.

Bell's book adapts the famous Dickens tale expertly to its new setting, taking liberties with characters but infusing Southern charm into the usual twists and turns. Scrooge (played grumpily here by Toast's Robert Bathurst with a walrus moustache you could sail to Sweden on) comes with a gruff Tennessee accent; his backstory here involves turning down a job working down the pits in order to study and work in the general store of the jovial Fustbunch (an ebullient Minal Patel).

When local bigwig Jacob Marley (also Maguire) hears of the accounting prowess of young Scrooge (Whitehead again) soon after his belle decries his ambition at a Christmas party, the heartbroken innocent is hired away from Fustbunch and, soon enough, Eben's sunny disposition turns away from friendship and love and towards making money for money's sake. Marley soon gets on the wrong side of the authorities and, before you can say "Bah Humbug", Scrooge takes advantage of his partner's difficulties and takes over their business.

The translation from nineteenth century London is done inventively and with some nods to the fervent Christianity of the time and place: Jesus gets more than a few shout-outs while Scrooge jubilantly accepts his redemption by telling the world "I am saved!" Effective set design from Scott Davis and Linda Roethke's period costumes set the mood and David Howe's lighting is atmospheric, especially in casting sepia tones over the stage for the Christmas-past scenes.

The three Christmas ghosts are amusingly realised. The Ghost of Christmas Past is played by Carole Stewart with vigour and humour in equal measure and wearing a Flavor Flav-style clock. Wearing a miner's helmet, Patel doubles up as The Ghost of Christmas Present as we meet Fred chopping up his household furniture to keep his guests warm. Lastly, female violinist Corey Wickens is the darkly-clad emissary who only communicates with Scrooge through hair-raising sounds from her instrument. The decision to bring a lively Tiny Tim into the action almost from the off is refreshing and fun.

And what about Dolly's contribution? Her music and lyrics are pretty much what you would expect: countrified pop which goes from gloriously raucous footstompers sung by the entire company like "Party Time" to soothing duets like "Three Candles" (sadly one candle short of being comedy gold). Musical director Andrew Hilton's six-piece band cranks up the volume to eleven at times but lulls us into softer moments too. Unlike many new musicals, the songs are memorable and uplifting in their own right. There are other musical takes on this classic already playing (not least the brilliantly funny A Christmas Carol-ish) but none with the Parton magic dusted liberally over story, music and lyrics.

And that's not the only thing sprinkled everywhere. Bell expertly shows the hard life of mid-Thirties mining folk in Tennessee living in clapboard houses insulted from the ravages of midwinter by nothing more than cardboard. We feel some sympathy for their plights but maybe we would feel more if Bell didn't sheep-dip as many scenes in pure corn syrup and awkward dialogue ("we haven't used lard since 1928").

With a winning cocktail of Dolly numbers and lashings of Southern charm, this Christmas Carol has plenty for those new and not-so-new to this story.

Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol continues until January 8 2023 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the Southbank Centre.

Photo Credit: Manuel Harlan

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