An Attempt to Explain What Dolly Parton, Taco Bell and Doja Cat Have in Common

The grandmother of country appears to be involved in a new musical, and you wouldn’t guess what it’s about

Dolly Parton performs on stage at ACL Live during Blockchain Creative Labs’ Dollyverse event at SXSW during the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals on March 18, 2022 in Austin, Texas.
Dolly Parton performs on stage at ACL Live during Blockchain Creative Labs’ Dollyverse event at SXSW during the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals on March 18, 2022 in Austin, Texas.
Michael Loccisano via Getty

Dolly Parton, universally beloved country singer, EGOT nominee, literacy promoter, vaccine creator (via donation), and founder of Dollywood, is adding another notch to her belt; she’s been tapped to star in…a musical about the Mexican Pizza from Taco Bell

No, we’re not kidding. 

Like most ridiculous things, this all started on Tik Tok, with an assist from pop star Doja Cat. In a video, the songstress mourned the loss of the Mexican Pizza, a Taco Bell menu item that sounds like it was created by either a stoner or a four-year-old, and which was discontinued from the store in 2020. 

Tik Tok loves a good musical. They created Ratatouille the musical in 2020, and this year the Grammy for Best Musical Theater album went to two women, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, who created the unofficial Bridgerton musical on the app. 

After Doja’s first post, the Mexican Pizza Musical went viral on the app, with Barlow and Bear joining the brand in creating a real musical around the Mexican Pizza, to coincide with the relaunch of the item on the Taco Bell menu later this month. 

As for Dolly’s participation, not much is known yet, but the country icon posted a private and confidential script to her Instagram account. 

This isn’t Dolly’s first musical theater endeavor, with her score writing credit on the Tony nominated musical 9-5. Whatever her role in the Mexican Pizza Musical ends up being, we hope it’s not too cheesy… 

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