The international tribute performer who headlined the second Dolly Parton Festival in Narromine in September 2023 is in the running for a role in a musical about the iconic country singer’s life, due to rock Nashville, Tennessee, in July.

UK-based, South Australian-born Kelly O’Brien threw her hat into the ring when the US casting search was announced last December, and put 18 years’ experience impersonating the undisputed Queen of Country to the test — with tremendous results.

Kelly is the only non-US competitor in the fifteen performers chosen as finalists in “The Search For Dolly” — and she’s pretty stoked about it.

“It’s really special,” she told this masthead.

“For Dolly's team, and maybe Dolly herself to say, ‘Yeah, we want you to audition for the musical to potentially play one of the roles,’ it's quite amazing,” she said.

Dolly: An Original Musical

Organisers of “Dolly: An Original Musical” — a show developed by the real Dolly Parton — announced a national US casting call on December 6 searching for performers of all ages to portray the now-79-year-old country music icon at different stages of her incredible life in the musical.

“We're looking for talented performers who can capture the spirit of my journey, whether you're an experienced theater professional or an undiscovered gem with that little special something," Dolly Parton said in a statement at the time.

"So, what are you waiting for? This might be your moment to take center stage and step into the spotlight. Break a leg!”

Kelly didn’t let a little thing like 5600 kilometres of Atlantic Ocean between herself and the east coast of the USA stop her. The talented songstress, a seasoned musical star who has been performing as Dolly Parton since 2007, joined countless others in uploading to social media a video of her singing her favourite Dolly song — the classic “Here You Come Again”. She submitted a second song “Blue Smoke”, with her audition reportedly going viral. A third video was the Parton classic “Jolene”.

She was thrilled to make the final 15 performers chosen to audition in New York for a role in the new musical.

Kelly was touring and unable to make it across The Pond for the New York auditions, and submitted a tape in lieu, she said.

“I was in Denmark when I got the news, and I was in the middle of touring myself,” she explained.

The musical will have its world premiere at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville on July 18 and run through until August 17 this year.

What is known about the musical at this time is that it will feature a score by Dolly Parton including some of her biggest hits, as well as new songs she has written especially for it. There will also be a book by Dolly and Maria S. Schlatter, and the musical will be directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher.

“The run is in Nashville first, and then it will cross over to Broadway next year,” Kelly said.

At this stage, no further information is publicly available about which performers have been chosen for the roles in the musical, but this is expected to be announced soon. It is also not known what impact the unexpected passing on March 3 of Dolly Parton’s much-loved husband of 59 years, Carl Dean, may have on plans to stage the musical in July as planned.

Festival headliner

If you attended the 2023 Dolly Parton Festival in Narromine, you would have been mightily impressed by Kelly’s performance.

“The Dolly Show” was the headline act and Kelly literally walks, talks, dresses, looks like and sings just like the real Dolly Parton in her show. She is also very similar in height to the real Dolly.

This journalist has been following Kelly since that time, and was most excited to hear about her making it through to the finals of “The Search For Dolly.

“I started singing country when I was very young, and I was entering a lot of competitions singing country music,” she said of her journey to become the ultimate Dolly Parton tribute artist.

“My parents would play her records at home, so I grew up listening to her. And also I'm as small as she is!” Kelly added.

“I just loved the glamour of her, you know, the hair, the costumes, the demands, the tassels. She's beautiful to look at, but beautiful on the inside as well.”

A very busy performer, Kelly is currently in Australia touring with The Dolly Show at locations in NSW including Tuncurry, Newcastle, Liverpool, Wollongong, Penrith, Kingsford and Chatswood. Her Australian tour finishes on April 5-6 with performances at The Princess Theatre in Brisbane and Twin Towns in Tweed Heads. As well as performing in her popular UK shows, Kelly will head to the US in late May to perform at Roxy’s Cabaret in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Central west links

While she lives with her husband, award-winning poet Ben Verinder, and children Oscar and Amber, in rural Hertfordshire north-west of London, an area of England immortalised in Jane Austen’s novel “Pride and Prejudice”, Kelly, who celebrated her 50th birthday not that long ago, has strong links to central west NSW. Her father was born in Nyngan and extended family still live in the area.

At just 16, two years after she began singing country, Kelly was crowned South Australian Country Vocalist of the Year and Best New Talent at the Gympie Music Muster. She headlined the German production of “Starlight Express” in 2002 and performed in West End productions in the UK before deciding to bring the joy of Dolly Parton to appreciative audiences in 2007. She certainly wowed local audiences at the Dolly Parton Festival in 2023.

Good luck, Kelly!

With a casting announcement for the Dolly musical imminent, fans everywhere have fingers crossed that the only non-US finalist in the “The Search For Dolly” can nab the role of a lifetime. Maybe one day, we’ll also see her again at a future Dolly Parton Festival in Narromine.