Updated

Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 26

Dolly Parton Sealed Unreleased Song Until 2046 as Broadway Musical Keeps Dec. 7 Previews

Updated

Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 26

Dolly Parton Sealed Unreleased Song Until 2046 as Broadway Musical Keeps Dec. 7 Previews

Q: What secret measures exist to ensure Dolly Parton's sealed 2046 time capsule CD actually plays in twenty years?

There do not appear to be any hidden or sophisticated backup measures beyond what Parton publicly described. The known safeguard is simple: she sealed “My Place in History” inside Dollywood’s chestnut “Dream Box” with playback equipment included so future listeners would not need to find obsolete hardware. Multiple reports say the box contains the song on a CD along with a CD player, and some accounts add that a cassette player is also inside. The display is kept at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort, behind glass, which helps protect the sealed box from routine handling and tampering until its planned opening on Jan. 19, 2046. Parton herself suggested there was no elaborate technological guarantee. In her 2020 book, she joked, “Hopefully, it will play and the whole thing ain’t rotted,” underscoring that she understood the risk of aging media and outdated formats. She made similar comments in later interviews, even worrying aloud that the recording might “disintegrate.” So the practical answer is that the “secret measure” is not a secret archive or digital redundancy that has been publicly disclosed. It is the analog precaution of storing the disc with its own player inside a protected, unopened time capsule. No public reporting cited an additional duplicate, off-site master, or preservation protocol specifically meant to ensure the CD will work in 2046.

Q: Will the upcoming Broadway musical about Dolly Parton's life change its ending following her sudden passing this week?

No. The Broadway production is not being delayed or reworked away from the plan Dolly Parton approved, and producers have said it will go on “as was Dolly’s wish.” After Parton’s death this week, the producers of *DOLLY: A True Original Musical* confirmed that previews will still begin Dec. 7 at the St. James Theatre in New York, with opening night still set for Jan. 19, 2027 — what would have been her 81st birthday. Multiple trade and entertainment reports, including statements carried by Playbill, Deadline and BroadwayWorld, say the show will continue on the timeline she wanted. That means the show’s overall ending is not being publicly announced as changed because of her passing. The musical had already been developed with Parton’s direct involvement: she co-wrote the book with Maria S. Schlatter, wrote music for it, and was actively working on the Broadway version after its 2025 Nashville premiere. Director Bartlett Sher and the creative team are expected to carry it forward in her honor. What may change in practice is tone around the production. Opening night, already tied to her birthday, will now inevitably function as a memorial as well as a premiere. Producers had also said before her death that they were “shaping the show and deepening the storytelling” based on lessons from Nashville, so some revisions were already part of the normal Broadway transfer process. But there is no indication that Parton’s death has prompted a specific new ending.

3 articles · Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 26

A song Parton wrote and recorded in 2015, “My Place in History,” was left in a chestnut box at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort with orders to open it on Jan. 19, 2046—her 100th birthday.
The recording was designed as a musical time capsule: it is stored on a CD with a CD player inside the box, a plan Parton later joked might fail if the technology rotted before then.
Her death Tuesday at 80 also brought details of her final wishes into focus, including a small private funeral and the hymn “If We Never Meet Again,” a favorite of her father, Lee Parton.
One final project will arrive much sooner: “Dolly: A True Original Musical” will still start previews on Dec. 7 in New York and officially open on Jan. 19, 2027, what would have been her 81st birthday.