Netflix’s new venture includes Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square, which seems to be a suitable title considering the description. For starters, this old-school Christmas special is one of a kind, with its colorful, easy display of veteran director and choreographer Debbie Allen and Christine Baranski.

Source: The Irish Times

STORYLINE

The storyline comprises of a New Yorker returning to the small town she grew up in and an adorable but wise-beyond-years moppet Violet, who is the daughter of a local barkeep. Baranski, on the other hand, has planned to evict the whole community on Christmas Eve. There’s also Pastor Christian and wife (who never stops smiling, which is honestly annoying). Anyway, it’s a house full and you need to watch this because of it’s a feel-good vibe.

LYRICIST AND COMPOSER

What has Dolly Parton done, right? Well, she has a direct link with the creator and she has also written the music and lyrics of the songs. And trust us on this one: all songs have a carefree sing-along vibe (if you’re fond of Jolene than you know that she’s just effortless when it comes to creating songs best suited for karaoke!

Dolly is phenomenal and a goddess when it comes to writing festive ditty music. Also, she’s super sporting as she doesn’t go along when anyone pokes fun at her own rhinestones – sign of a true rockstar!

MOVIE PROMOTIONS                                                           

What do you do when you see Ms. Parton wearing a bright red dress, sitting comfortably but sensually in front of a wildly decorated Christmas tree, ready to get the virtual party started? Well, it doesn’t matter if it’s the middle of October or the brink of June – you get ready to celebrate Christmas!

Dolly has been promoting this special since October is the same description as we provided above, but of course, the Netflix's Christmas movie special will come out on 22^nd of November! No matter what day it is, we all know that Dolly is ever-so-ready to spread love and joy in the world.

Anyway, so she’s been promoting her latest project, which is about a cold-hearted businesswoman who comes back to her small town, only to evict everyone at Christmas Eve, and sell the land to a mall developer.

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED DANCE PERFORMANCES!

Source: Vulture

Dolly is also playing a variety of characters in this musical, but the project is not your conventional cookie-cutter holiday movie. Yes, you’ll get to enjoy beautifully choreographed performances (all written and composed by Dolly Parton). But do you know that there are lyrics about fertility and eviction notices? Hmm looks like Parton is taking swag lessons from Miley, her Goddaughter.

REAL-LIFE DEPICTION

Jokes aside, this is possibly the first time when you get to see such relatable and real-life scenarios in a Christmas musical. Dolly, being ever-so-gracious, gave all the credit to their writer and co-executive producer Maria S. Schlatter as she was the one who not only conceived this idea but also suggested featuring a couple who was struggling with fertility issues. Hence, she believes that it was Maria’s idea to give attention to such serious issues and bring them to the forefront.

While speaking to Glamour, Parton said that Maria had the foresight to create wonderful characters and she is proud to write music that extends support to the overall characterization and storyline of the project.

IT’S A FEEL-GOOD MOVIE

However, let’s take a moment to understand that it’s a Christmas musical, so (of course) you wouldn’t get to see things getting a bit gritty and tense. There won’t be doctor appointments and administration of IVF shots at home. Dolly claims that she did think of making that happen, though.

However, all things said and done, the decision was to let go of all science and just commit to the higher power and give hope to the world by letting a miracle happen.

Christmas movies usually explore traditional aspects of life and give an ode to the simpler times. But, let’s face it, it’s 2020 and the world is a bit jaded and complex and in need of an escape (without challenging out brain cells). Christine Baranski succeeds in finding the balance and giving us a realistic glimpse of a magical show.

EMOTIONAL CONNECT

Baranski, while talking about the project, said that there’s a quote in the film that conceptualizes the very crux of grief. What is grief? It’s all of the love that you have for someone or something that has nowhere to go. She also said that when people are numb and hurting, they become immune to the emotions and feelings of others and tend to be rather insensitive.

Christmas is the time when you learn to soften your heart and instead of going numb, this time teaches us to carefully let go of the negativity. She tells her viewers and fans awaiting the film to keep the faith alive and spread love and kindness. 

Parton said that people living in small towns are simply trying to make ends meet. They’re hoping for a better year and this movie is for them. It’s represents hope and light at the end of the tunnel, and if they manage to reciprocate, they’ve done their job. We believe this movie is super delightful, and because of this wonderful musical, Christmas has come early at our homes. It’s literally the best present ever! (We knew Dolly was our Santa)

Before this, Dolly has made a couple of holiday-themed movies, like Christmas of Many Colors and Christmas at Dollywood. Actress Mary Lane Haskell has shared the details regarding the upcoming project in one of the podcasts; she said that she has worked with Dolly before, and her experiences are always splendid and there’s never a dull moment on set with her.

And oh, there are twelve songs in the movie! It certainly can’t get better than this. And since it’s a Christmas movie, there won’t be any bad guys or bad endings because nobody wants any association with negativity at this time of the year!

Dolly will be a literal angel and we just can’t wait to watch it every single day after the release until the Christmas Day after all the movie reviews are all so promising just like Dolly Parton movies and TV shows!