News

Dolly Parton tribute opens 2013 Music on the Rock season

Amy Toporek

By Bill Moss, Published: January 26, 2013

The Flat Rock Playhouse Music on the Rock concert series returns to Playhouse Downtown on Feb. 6 with A Tribute to Dolly Parton.

Erin MosherOne of the most successful female country artists of all time, Parton has over 3,000 songs to her credit including hits like "Jolene," "I Will Always Love You," "9 to 5" and "My Tennessee Mountain Home." Starting as a child performer, Parton rose to prominence in 1967 with the hit single, "The Last Thing on My Mind" and hasn't slowed down since. Along the way she has performed with the likes of Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris and acted in hit movies like Steel Magnolias, 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Rhinesone. Now the head of a $100 million media empire, Dolly has made it clear that she has no plans to retire from show business any time soon.

A Tribute to Dolly Parton will feature Erin Mosher, an audience-favorite performer in the Music on the Rock series since its inception in 2010. Her Music on the Rock credits include tributes to Andrew Lloyd Webber, Barbra Streisand, Patsy Cline and ABBA. On the Playhouse stage she has also been seen in The 39 Steps, The Drowsy Chaperone and Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap.
Most recently she was a featured singer in the 2012 holiday hit, A Celtic Christmas. Erin has also played the role of Amneris in Sir Elton John's musical adaptation of AIDA at Drury Lane Theatre in Chicago as well as the role of Mrs. Dearly and Tabby Cat in the 1st National Tour of 101 Dalmatians which also had a successful run at the Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York City.

Two vocalists who are no strangers to the Playhouse Stage, YouTheatre instructor Tania Battista and New York City-based actress Amy Toporek, will join Mosher. Batista was most recently on the Playhouse Downtown stage in 2012 in the YouTheatre production of The Boxcar Children and Toporek appeared in the 2012 Playhouse productions of Nunsense and The Marvelous Wonderettes as well as the 2011 production of Hairspray.

The musical team includes Bill Altman (guitars), Paul Babelay (drums), Grant Cuthbertson (bass), Eric Fotre Leach (keyboards) and George Wilkins Jr. (piano).