Jason CoZmo returned to Cherry Grove on July 12, with a vivid, detailed show at the Ice Palace, paying tribute to Dolly Parton, billed as “Coat of Many Colors: Jason CoZmo as Dolly, Qween of Country,” with DJ Chuck McTague assisting. Jason gave us a generous evening of 20 songs, “covering Dolly’s entire career;” numerous costume changes; film clips and stills from both Dolly and Jason’s careers; and abundant enjoyment. Jason offered the kind of performance that inspires in the audience member the feeling of indeed spending time with the beloved star that the artist embodies so well.
Jason burst onto the scene, in glitzy red, white, and blue, with “Baby I’m Burning” as the zesty opening. The Beatles’ “Help,” “Here You Come Again,” “Nine to Five” with a change into a beaded and fringed creation, and “Two Doors Down” followed. In the version of “Jolene” here, “for the drag queens and for you,” Jolene’s name was sometimes pointedly changed to “drag queen.” Jason brought the proceedings to revival meeting pitch with a number punctuated by “Hallelujah”s and including “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
Clips from the film “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” introduced Jason as Dolly as Mona Stangley, in red, doing a wistful “Hard Candy Christmas.” Jason then assembled a ‘stable’ from the audience to create a “Best Little Whorehouse in Cherry Grove” for a rollicking account of “Little Bitty Pissant Country Place.” One of the ‘’ho’s’ was Island Breeze Tiki Bartender Tish, to whom we all sang “Happy Birthday.”
We saw stills from Jason’s life and a film clip, with Dolly and Robin Roberts, in which Dolly worked to pick her own image out of a quartet, which included three queens, Jason among them, who ‘do’ her.
‘Sister’ Dolly Parton—Jason in a Dolly version of a choir robe—‘took us to church’ with the most timely “Peace Train” and lively gospel invitation to Satan to “Go to Hell.” Jason’s Dolly then morphed into “Backwoods Barbie,” in another red dress; advised “Better Get to Livin’;” and led a sing-along of Russian song “Those Were the Days.” A fervent “God Bless the USA,” so apt in these troubled times, ended this section.
Film clips of Dolly’s life, which came next, found her commenting about crossing over, “I’m not leaving country, I’m just taking it with me!” and led to Jason’s Dolly remembering roots with “Blue Smoke,” “Rocky Top,” and “Apple Jack.” Title song “Coat of Many Colors,” recalling a beloved coat that mother made of rags and remnants, was the touching finale and “I Will Always Love You,” warmly to the audience, was the encore.