Lesson 21: Never forgetting her roots, Dolly Parton leans on a troupe of small town singers to bring her biographical musical to Broadway

There are a couple of truths about living in a small town.

One - secrets are hard to keep. And two - it pays to know somebody who knows somebody.

This is true whether you’re in Maine or Montana or Madagascar or Mozambique. It’s certainly been proven true in Jonesborough - Tennessee’s oldest town, population 6,500-ish, known far and wide as a historic gem and an enclave for the artistic at heart in the mountains of Southern Appalachia.

There, a tight-knit group of community theater volunteers somehow has managed to keep a really big secret about their connection with a friend’s friend who, it just so happens, is one of the most famous people in the world.

Like in any good theater production, it’s important to set the scene. So picture it - Jonesborough Repertory Theater. 130 red velvet seats facing a smaller-than-they’d-like-it-to-be stage in what once was a casket factory, cozily tucked away just off Jonesborough’s Main Street where brick sidewalks, historic homes, and quaint shops frequently prompt visitors to remark, “This looks JUST like the set of a Hallmark movie.” Locals are relieved that it isn’t. They know that there’s already high-quality entertainment to be enjoyed down at the community theater where every show of every season is a sell-out, and the only negative reviews are from people miffed they didn’t get a ticket.

There, at JRT as the locals call it, is where the big secret was born - an astonishing secret, really, about how one of the most famous people on the planet became a JRT collaborator, co-creator, and friend.

“We didn’t tell anyone,” said Jennifer Ross-Bernhardt, JRT’s artistic director. “It was hush hush. We didn’t know if it was okay to talk about it, so we didn’t. Plus, we all were just having so much fun.”

Like all community theaters, JRT depends on volunteers and on some of them more than others. One of JRT’s most beloved and most essential is “Dr. Gregg” - cast photographer, sound-mixer, and resident psychiatrist. He really is one because Dr. Gregg is actually Dr. Gregg Perry, a licensed psychiatrist who practiced for decades in East Tennessee.

Here’s where this story gets crazy. Turns out, Dr. Gregg Perry is the same Gregg Perry who spent years as Dolly Parton’s musical director. Before his days as a physician and as a theater volunteer in Jonesborough, Perry toured the world with Parton and played critical roles in some of her biggest creations - “9 to 5” and the “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” topping the list. Their business relationship changed with time, but Perry and Parton have never stopped collaborating, and they’ve never stopped being good friends.

You likely are starting to see where this is going. So let me pause here to say this: Dolly herself is the one who publicly shared the secret (or at least a bit of it) with a wink to the world that revealed she knew something they didn’t. Also, I am hoping this is just the beginning of the story, that more will unfold in the months and years to come. But here’s what we can say.

In January 2025, Parton announced that a project she’d talked about and dreamed of for years was finally to become a reality. “Dolly: An Original Musical” would tell the rags to riches story of her life through musical theater, and the show would premier with a limited run in Nashville.

Broadway, here she comes.

By the time that news broke, Dolly already had looped in her old friend Dr. Gregg to get her music - old songs and new ones written for the show - ready for a new type of performance. At some point, Dr. Gregg needed singers to record tracks that would help the actors cast for the stage production to learn their parts, and that’s when he looped in his friends, the talented troupe at JRT.

“Dr. Gregg brought JRT - about 25 or 30 of our singers - into his studio to record and collaborate on the musical,” Ross-Berhardt told me, casually as if stuff like that happens every day. She said Dolly remained in creative control throughout the whole process that played out over most of 2024. Dolly worked closely with the JRT singers, even singing and recording their parts herself as she wanted them to be, then sharing her notes with the singers who would listen and follow her lead.

One of the JRT singers, frequent leading man Lucas Schmidt, actually was invited to Nashville to work with Parton in the studio, and Ross-Behrnardt (who happens to be Schmidt’s mother) went with him. “I got to meet Dolly,” she said, “and I told her that her “9 to 5” musical was part of JRT’s upcoming season.” Parton, she said, seemed to love that. Because the visit coincided with Ross-Berhardt’s birthday, “Dolly actually sang Happy Birthday to me,” she said, again casually as if that kind of thing happens every day. “That was so cool!”

Admit it - if Dolly Parton sang Happy Birthday to you - to your face - that video would have been on Facebook before you started the car to come home. And if you were collaborating with Dolly Parton on her upcoming Broadway show, everyone would know it because you’d rent out a billboard and possibly commission a T-shirt. But that’s not what happened. JRT kept it a secret, and they did it thinking that, really, it was Parton’s news to tell. “We just kept on doing our thing in the background, staging our productions and helping her when she needed it,” Ross-Bernhardt said. Parton paid them for their time and talents, and when the project was finished, she even sent bouquets of flowers.

In January 2025, around the time “Dolly: An Original Musical” was announced, Dr. Gregg reminded his old friend that her other musical - “9 to 5” - was about to debut at JRT. And that’s when Dolly decided to do something else to express her gratitude.

WATCH Dolly's greeting to JRT

“Well hey there, it’s Dolly!” Parton said, looking into the camera during what appears to have been a brief break from recording in a studio. “I want to say hello to all the folks at the Jonesborough Repertory Theater!

Dolly is in full regalia: the hair, the makeup, black dress and silver high-heels.

“Well,I got the word that you’re doing “9 to 5” and I want you to know how happy I am. I know you all are going to do good. I especially know the girls are going to do good. We’ve got Shannon (Cook), Sarah (Sanders), and Brittney (Whitson). Girls - don’t embarrass me, and thank you for doing my musical!”

Dr. Gregg recorded and shared the video on social media. JRT shared the video. Everyone shared the video, and just like that - the secret was out. Well, sort of out. And that’s what I mean about the wink. In offering a stunning personal endorsement for a tiny community theater, Parton seemed to be asking the world, “Wouldn’t you like to know how this all came about?!”

And now we know.

“That was of her own volition,” Ross-Berhnardt said. “Dr. Gregg didn’t ask her to do it. She’s that kind of person. We helped her, and we did it for the fun and the experience. But she did that (the video endorsement) because she’s just a truly wonderful person.”

As I write this, “9 to 5” is now playing at Jonesborough Repertory Theater. Every show is sold out and probably would have been without Parton’s video. Like I said, that’s how they roll at JRT.

But the video does something else, I think. It proves that, far from the bright lights of Broadway, small towns are home to world-class talent, even in the cramped confines of an old casket factory. And it proves that, despite limitless resources and international adoration, Dolly Parton has never forgotten that she was once one just like them, small town dreamers with world-class talent driven to create - just for the love of it.

Dolly could have hired anyone in the world for her Broadway show, and they likely would have done it for free just for the privilege of saying they did. But she didn’t. She hired her fellow Appalachians. She shopped local, and she clearly was glad she did.

“Nobody thought in a million years that Dolly Parton would know about our little theater!” Ross-Berhnardt said. “We’re so thankful to her that she would give us this recognition.”

For the lucky ones who got a ticket, she says that gratitude will be on full display every time the curtain rises.

“Everyone on the stage loves her and has put their heart into this. They want to do her proud.”