Cast & Creative
Katie Rose Clarke (she/her) most recently starred as Beth in the Tony Award-winning revival of Merrily We Roll Along for director Maria Friedman and opposite Jonathan Groff on Broadway, following a run at the New York Theatre Workshop. Best known for her role as Glinda in the Broadway production of Wicked, she also starred in the role in the musical’s first national touring company. Her Broadway debut was as Clara Johnson in the Lincoln Center Theater’s production of The Light in the Piazza, directed by Bartlett Sher. She reprised the role of Clara in the production’s first national tour. Her additional Broadway credits include Hannah Campbell in Allegiance and Ellen in Miss Saigon. On camera, she can be seen in roles on CBS’s “The Good Wife” and “NCIS: New Orleans.” She also performed as Clara in the PBS national broadcast of “Live from Lincoln Center: The Light in The Piazza.” In regional theater, she is recognized for her role as Cathy Hiatt in The Last Five Years at the Long Wharf Theatre. For this role she was awarded the Connecticut Critics Choice Award for Best Actress in 2014. She was also seen in the East Coast debut of Craig Lucas’ play Prayer for My Enemy as Marianne Noone. Katie Rose appeared in the staged concert of Parade as Mrs. Phagan, conducted by Jason Robert Brown at Lincoln Center. She currently resides in New York with her husband and family.
(he/him). Broadway: The Great Gatsby (Original Broadway Cast); Good Night, Oscar. Off-Broadway: Jonah (Roundabout); Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Playwrights Horizons, Obie Special Citation); Before We’re Gone (13th Street Repertory Theatre); Monster (Potomac Theater Project). Regional: The Great Gatsby (Paper Mill Playhouse); Good Night, Oscar (Goodman); Romeo & Juliet (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company). Film and television: “The Breakdown Parables,” “Evil,” “Billions,” “The Code,” and “Madam Secretary.” A singer/songwriter as well as an actor, his latest collection of original music, “Nor’easter III,” is the final installment in a trilogy of EPs he’s released over the course of the last year. It will be available on all streaming services on August 15. Education: Boston University (BFA) and New York University (MFA). Instagram: @johnzdrojeski.
Tabitha Lawing (she/her) was most recently seen as The Little Girl in New York City Center’s 2024 Gala Production of Ragtime, directed by Lear deBessonet. She made her Broadway debut in the original Broadway cast of Days of Wine and Roses (2024) in the role of daughter Lila, appearing alongside Broadway legends Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy James. You can also see her as Young Iris in the upcoming feature film “Oh, Hi!” (Sony Pictures Classics) in theaters later this summer. Tabitha is elated to be part of this incredible cast. Many thanks to the creative team, producers, and Jim Carnahan Casting for the opportunity. Endless gratitude to CESD and David Doan, and to Alex Kidder of the Amy Murphy Studio. Love to Mom, Dad, & sissy. Instagram: @tabithalawing.
Kathlynn Rodin (she/her) is a singer, actor, and songwriter originally from Phoenix, Arizona, now based in New York City. She’s thrilled to be part of this once-in-a-lifetime show with a once-in-a-lifetime team! Raised in a sports-driven family, Kathlynn was an avid softball player. Her path took a creative turn when her brother was asked to perform in a musical. Naturally, being competitive and wanting to showcase her artistic side, she auditioned for the next production–and the rest is history. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Theatre Performance from Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute of Design and Arts. Some of her favorite roles include Jerusha Abbott in Daddy Long Legs, Teresa in Heroes of the Fourth Turning, and Clara Johnson in The Light in the Piazza. When she’s not performing, Rodin enjoys playing guitar, dancing with her friends, and obsessing over ‘70s music. She is deeply grateful for the love and support of her family (Mom, Dad, Keegan – love you!), amazing friends and mentors, her manager, Nyle, and her found NYC community. Follow her journey as an actor and songwriter on Instagram: @kathlynn_rodin.
Dolly Parton is the most honored and revered multi-hyphenate of all time and was recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Her recent album Rockstar made history by scoring the biggest album debut sales week of her seven-decade career and earning her six #1s on the Billboard charts – Top Rock Albums, Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Country Albums, Top Album Sales, Top Current Album Sales, and Independent Albums. The landmark album also claimed the #3 debut spot on the Billboard 200 chart, her highest position ever. Achieving 27 RIAA-certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards, she has had 26 songs reach #1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. Parton is the first artist to have topped Billboard’s Adult Contemporary, Christian AC Songs, Hot Country Songs, Christian Airplay, Rock Digital Songs, Country Airplay and Dance/Mix Show Airplay radio charts. Parton became the first country artist honored as Grammy MusiCares Person of the Year given out by NARAS. She has 49 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 120 career-charted singles over the past 50+ years. In October 17, 2023, she released her second New York Times Best Seller coffee table book in a trilogy called “Behind The Seams: My Life in Rhinestones.” The first of the series was the bestselling coffee table book “Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.” Her cookbook, “Good Lookin’ Cookin’,” co-authored with her sister Rachel Parton George, was a #1 New York Times Best Seller for numerous weeks on the charts and was the #1 cookbook of 2024.
In 2014, the RIAA recognized her impact on recorded music with a plaque commemorating more than 100 million units sold worldwide. She has amassed 11 Grammy Awards and 54 nominations, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, 10 Country Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year; five Academy of Country Music Awards, also including a nod for Entertainer of the Year; four People’s Choice Awards; and three American Music Awards. In 1999, Parton was inducted as a member of the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame.
Dolly has the largest fan base of all measured music artists in the YouGov database at #1 with 198 million. She has the #1 Q Score of all performers, solo and group. Dolly is one of only 25 celebrities in the E-poll database to have an E-score of 100 and has maintained that perfect rating for 8 years. She recently won Best Brand Award, Celebrity, Influencer and Fashion at the 2023 Licensing International Excellence Awards.
To date, Parton has donated over 270 million books to children around the world with her Imagination Library. Her children’s book,“Coat of Many Colors,” was dedicated to the Library of Congress to honor the Imagination Library’s 100 millionth book donation. In March of 2022, Parton released the book “Run, Rose, Run,” which she co-authored with James Patterson and which sat at # 1 on the New York Times Best Sellers List for five weeks, a record for this decade. She also released an accompanying album of the same name with original songs inspired by the book, which reached #1 on three charts simultaneously – Country, Americana/Folk and Bluegrass Albums. From her “Coat of Many Colors” while working “9 to 5,” no dream is too big and no mountain too high for the country girl who turned the world into her stage.
Maria S. Schlatter is a two-time Emmy-winning, multi-nominated television producer and writer, as well as a network executive for variety specials at ABC, eventually expanding to variety series.
Schlatter partnered with Dolly Parton to create, executive produce, and write a musical film for Netflix, Christmas on the Square, which went on to win two Emmys. Before that, she produced and wrote for many comedy, music, and variety specials and series for the top performers in entertainment, including Frank Sinatra and Muhammed Ali, as well as an Emmy-winning Sammy Davis, Jr. special. She also was brought in by ABC to produce a series for Roseanne. She produced the American Comedy Awards for eleven years, Oscar’s Greatest Moments video for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a tribute to Blake Edwards for the DGA, the Television Hall of Fame for the Television Academy, AFI Salutes Harrison Ford, and AFI Salutes Dustin Hoffman.
After writing comedy material for geniuses such as John Cleese, Drew Carey, and Eddie Murphy, her political satire sketch comedy was used on the New York stage in Blow Me: A New Revue and in Zipper, a stand-up and sketch comedy revue. She produced Norman’s Ark, a musical with a cast of over 200, for the Ford Amphitheater in Los Angeles. Schlatter wrote the book for Pandora’s Box – A New Musical Play, which premiered at the New York New Musical Festival, collaborating with composer and lyricist, the late Glen Roven. Her one-man, eight-character show Judgment Day, starring Donald Corren, earned rave reviews.
Also an award-winning videographer, she has produced and written many video and musical biographical tributes for Julie Andrews, as well as tributes for Blake Edwards, Goldie Hawn, Frank Oz, and Dudley Moore. She produced the Gstaad Film Festival for two years with the late Tony Adams.
The New York Times has praised Sher as “one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but also in the international world of opera.” Nominated for the Tony Award nine times, he took home the prize in 2008 for his powerful revival of South Pacific.
Sher’s early career included residencies all over the world, under the guidance of such extraordinary artists as Garland Wright, Robert Woodruff, and Peter Hall. In 2000, he arrived at the Intiman Theater in Seattle, where he served as the Artistic Director until 2009.
During his time working in a regional theater, he directed over 20 plays by Shakespeare, and immersed himself in the classics. His Cymbeline was the first American production of a Shakespeare play presented at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. Bart’s first Broadway production was the 2005 world premiere of The Light in the Piazza, by Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas, which garnered him his first Tony nomination.
Soon after, he became the Resident Director of Lincoln Center Theater, a position he has held ever since. While at LCT, Bart has received Tony Award nominations for his productions of My Fair Lady, Oslo, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I, Golden Boy, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Awake and Sing!, and The Light in the Piazza. His other LCT productions include Corruption, Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot, Intimate Apparel, Blood and Gifts, and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
On Broadway, Bart has directed such shows as Pictures from Home, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Bridges of Madison County. In 2018, he directed Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway, which became the best-selling American play in Broadway history.
In the world of opera, Bart has directed both new work and classics at some of the most prestigious opera houses in the world, including La Scala, the English National Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Chicago, Seattle, the Berlin Staatsoper, Baden Baden, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He will direct the world premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay for the Met in their 2025-2026 season.
His film of Oslo premiered on HBO in 2021 and was nominated for two Emmy Awards and won a Critics Choice Award.
His most recent works are the hit world-premiere Ayad Akhtar play, McNeal, starring Robert Downey Jr. at Lincoln Center, and the acclaimed revival of Kiss Me, Kate, which recently ended an acclaimed run in London at the Barbican. Upcoming work includes the stage adaptation of the movie-musical La La Land.
Dolly and Richard have worked together for over 50 years. He started out playing piano and singing background vocals in her group. They have traveled the world together, playing everything from state fairs, small indoor and outdoor venues, arenas, and casinos to playing the Glastonbury Festival in Southwest England for over 175,000 fans singing the words to every one of her songs. As far as you could see were people loving Dolly! He’s been fortunate enough to sing on several of the soundtracks of her movies, and was able to sing and arrange background vocals for most of her albums dating back as early as 1975 to the present day, even co-producing a couple of them.
“Having Dolly’s trust and believing in me has been such a blessing and one I don’t take for granted,” he says. “Has it been hard and exhausting? Oh yes, indeed, with the endless miles on the buses and the planes, the next gig, and playing for her adoring fans. However, I am so very thankful to have been a part of Dolly’s life for all these years and it has enriched my life beyond words.”
Richard hopes audiences will be thoroughly entertained, will laugh out loud, may shed a tear or two, and just marvel at how this precious little girl from East Tennessee managed to bring such light, joy, and music into the hearts of so many people around the world. Enjoy the show!