Ex-‘Idol’ DeGarmo confident stepping into Parton’s shoes

DeGarmo plays the role of Doralee Rhodes, the sweet-tempered, highly endowed, put-upon secretary in the office worker revenge fantasy. When Parton played that role in the 1980 movie and wrote and sang the hit song for the soundtrack, it bestowed mainstream success on the country star.

In 2008, when the movie made the leap to become a Broadway musical, it was set to a score written by Parton, with more than a dozen new songs, including the title tune of Parton’s recent album, “Backwoods Barbie.”

Because the show became so identified with Parton, the role of Doralee became critical.

“That was the most difficult role to cast,” said director Jeff Calhoun, who first worked with Parton when he was a dancer in the film version of her movie “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”

“Dolly is an American icon,” said Calhoun. “You need someone that reminds you of Dolly in no uncertain terms, yet you don’t want to imitate Dolly, because that would be a poor imitation. ... You have to bring your own personality to the role, and it takes somebody as good as Diana to do that.”

DeGarmo proved her abilities as a 16-year-old singer in the third season of “Idol,” but she went on to demonstrate her theater chops in “Hairspray,” “Brooklyn: The Musical” and “The Toxic Avenger Musical.”

This summer, DeGarmo showed off her moxie, and a lot more, in the Broadway revival of “Hair.” That production required the squeaky-clean country singer to get naked and smoke pot onstage. No problem. “I really, truly had a blast,” said DeGarmo, who played the role of Sheila, Berger’s girlfriend, and sang the signature tune “Easy to Be Hard.”

Teamed up with fellow “Idol” alum Ace Young (who played the role of Berger), DeGarmo got her groove on, and (with the help of some comfortable lighting) found herself very at ease au naturel. “I thought, ‘I might as well do this now when I’m in my 20s.’ If they asked me to do it 10 years from now when things are not where they used to be, I don’t know.”

(By the way, that wasn’t really pot: “They were herbal cigarettes.”)

“I’m very proud of the new Doralee,” Parton said of DeGarmo. “She is great. I’ve watched her through the years, and I take pride in the fact that she even worked at Dollywood for a time when she was young.”

Calhoun is delighted, too, with the casting. “She will look every bit as curvaceous as Dolly on the stage. It will be 95 percent Diana, and the other 5 percent is the wig and the nails.”

Though Parton hasn’t been on the set during rehearsals, she’s been communicating daily with Calhoun, the cast and crew. Said Calhoun, “We don’t do anything without getting her blessing.”

Still, Parton said she won’t miss being on the stage playing the role of Doralee.

“I do get a big thrill knowing that all these many years later, I’m still so involved with the show,” she said. “It was wonderful being able to write the music. ‘9 to 5’ was my first entrance into film, and it’s a job that keeps on going ... 9 to 5, 5 to 9, 24/7, 365.”

Parton planned to be on hand when the cast assembled in Nashville, where the show opened last week.

DeGarmo made a trip to Atlanta this month, singing one of her own songs, a salute to the troops called “Thank You,” during the Georgia Music Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

When she’s not on the road, she makes her home in Nashville. She’s composed a handful of songs that she released this summer on the all-acoustic EP “Unplugged in Nashville,” and she plans to release a full-length album sometime next year, giving those songs a full-band setting.

DeGarmo and Young took some time off during the production of “Hair” to perform in Simon Cowell’s last show on “American Idol,” and, during a costume change with 30 other “Idol” alumni, she discovered that she and Young had lost some inhibitions.

Rather than wait for one of the bathrooms to come free, the two changed right there in the green room. “Everybody stopped and looked at us, and we said, ‘What? We get naked every night!’ ”