A Toast to Dolly Brings Drag, Burlesque and Live Music to 33 Golden Street

A Toast to Dolly Brings Drag, Burlesque and Live Music to 33 Golden Street Friday, Sept. 25, as New London celebrates 80 years of Dolly Parton with a late-night tribute built around the music, style and outsized personality of the Queen of Appalachia.

The 21+ show begins at 9 p.m. at 33 Golden Street and combines live music, drag and burlesque, with the performers putting their own spin on the enormous songbook and cultural legacy Parton left behind.

There’s no traditional ticket price attached to the celebration.

Instead, organizers will collect donations for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, turning a night of rhinestones, music and performance into a fundraiser for the children’s literacy program Parton considered among the most important accomplishments of her life.

Eight Decades of Dolly

Parton would have turned 80 in January 2026, making this year’s celebrations different even before her death in August.

She left behind a career that stretched far beyond country music.

Parton wrote thousands of songs, crossed repeatedly into pop, starred in movies, built Dollywood into one of Tennessee’s major attractions and created a public persona recognizable from Nashville to places where country radio barely registers.

The songs alone give Friday’s performers plenty to work with.

Jolene transformed a moment of romantic insecurity into one of country music’s most recognizable recordings. Coat of Many Colors turned childhood poverty into a song about dignity. I Will Always Love You became a landmark recording twice, first through Parton’s own version and later through Whitney Houston’s global hit.

Then there’s 9 to 5.

The song and film gave Parton a crossover pop anthem about working women while introducing her as a movie star alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.

There’s an especially appropriate bit of timing here: Sept. 25 has become a day devoted to Parton’s legacy in 2026, including the newly announced Give Like Dolly Day supporting the Imagination Library.

In Nashville, Sept. 25 is also being formally recognized as Dolly Day, with the date chosen as a play on 9 to 5.

New London’s celebration arrives on exactly the right night.

Dolly and Drag Have Always Made Sense Together

Parton spent decades embracing exaggeration rather than running from it.

The enormous blonde hair. Rhinestones. Heels. Elaborate makeup. Sequins. Curves. Country glamour pushed far enough that Parton was usually in on the joke before anyone else could make it.

That made her a natural figure for drag.

But imitation is only part of the connection.

Parton’s public image mixed femininity, humor, sexuality and self-awareness in ways that allowed her to be glamorous without pretending the glamour was effortless. She famously joked about the amount of work and money required to look the way she did.

Burlesque and drag performers work in much the same territory, taking costume, movement, makeup and character and deliberately turning the volume up.

Friday’s show expands that idea beyond impersonation. The poster promises drag and burlesque alongside live music, leaving room for performers to interpret Dolly rather than simply reproduce her.

The Fundraiser Goes Back to Dolly’s Father

The beneficiary gives the night considerably more meaning.

Parton created the Imagination Library in 1995 in her home county in East Tennessee. Its inspiration was intensely personal: her father, Lee Parton, couldn’t read or write.

The idea was to make books part of children’s lives before they even reached school.

Children enrolled in the program receive an age-appropriate book in the mail every month from birth until age five, regardless of family income. What began locally eventually expanded across the United States and into Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Republic of Ireland.

By June 2026, the program had distributed more than 325 million books and was mailing more than 3.5 million books every month.

That makes the donation jar at 33 Golden more than a symbolic nod to Parton.

It’s supporting the project she spent three decades building.

Exactly the Kind of Show 33 Golden Was Made For

There’s also something particularly New London about where this tribute is happening.

33 Golden Street isn’t a polished theater or country-music venue. It’s a compact downtown bar and music room with deep roots in New London’s alternative scene.

Over the years, its stage has hosted punk, metal, indie and experimental bands, local musicians, touring acts and DJs. It’s the kind of room where the audience is close enough that the boundary between performer and crowd can become fairly theoretical.

A Dolly Parton tribute featuring drag, burlesque and live music fits that environment better than a conventional tribute concert might.

The source material may come from Nashville.

The interpretation belongs to New London.

And instead of ending the evening with Dolly simply as an image onstage, the organizers are attaching the celebration to something she spent much of her life trying to accomplish.

Get more books into the hands of kids.

More information is available at the Event Website link below.

Details

Event: A Toast to Dolly
Date: Friday, Sept. 25, 2026
Show Time: 9 p.m.
Venue: 33 Golden Street
Address: 33 Golden St., New London, CT 06320
Age: 21+
Entertainment: Live music, drag and burlesque
Theme: Celebrating 80 years of Dolly Parton
Admission: No conventional ticket price is listed
Fundraiser: Donations will be collected for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
Venue Type: Bar and live-music venue

 

 

Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.