Manchester run of Dolly Parton musical plagued by homophobic abuse from audience, actor reveals

The Manchester run of a Dolly Parton musical was plagued by homophobic abuse by audience members, one of its lead actors has revealed.

Here You Come Again is a new musical featuring the hits of the legendary American country musician. The show has toured the country and arrived in Manchester last week for a five night run at the Opera House, which ended yesterday (Feb 8).

The show features a die hard fan of the songstress, played by Stevie Webb, and his fantasy version of the star, played by Tricia Paoluccio. Stevie has taken to his TikTok account to reveal that a number of shows, including two in Manchester, have been disrupted by homophobic abuse by audience members.

He said that someone had to be ejected from last night's show at the Opera House, while a show last Wednesday had to be stopped for up to 20 minutes when another audience member who launched a volley of vile abuse was ejected. The musical continues its UK tour in Sunderland later this week.

Stevie said: "The amount of audience members we have had to eject from our show due to homophobia is insane, it is insane. Just this week in Manchester alone, last night we had to eject someone who was shouting out slurs.

"On Wednesday we had to stop the whole show, we had to do an entire show stop and leave the stage, because a woman was so disgusted that there was a gay character on stage. She was shouting out, and then all the audience started shouting at her, and there was a massive ruckus. She was eventually ejected and we could start again.

"But we were stopped for like 15 or 20 minutes, it was crazy. It's happening nearly every single week and it blows my mind. This is a Dolly Parton musical, first of all.

"It's just me and Dolly Parton on stage, my