Dolly's grip on audiences lasts longer than a working day

THE SOCIAL NETWORK:Dolly Parton's musical 9 to 5 opened at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on Monday night. The show comes to Dublin from the UK, just two days after the country singer turned 67. Susan Loughnane, who plays Debbie in Love/Hate, flew in from Notting Hill. She will be returning to Ireland in the coming months to film the fourth series. She was there with her mother, Cepta Loughnane, and admitted to arranging her trip home "around Dolly".

Model turned gardener, Marie Staunton, also brought along her mother and RTÉ presenter Claire Byrne attended with Ciara Doherty of TV3. The pair said they were big fans of country music and had travelled to Nashville for New Year’s Eve three years ago, but had chosen the Graceland museum over the Dollywood theme park. Byrne had come from a gathering at the US embassy for Barack Obama’s inauguration. She will start presenting Prime Time on February 4th.

The singer and writer Leanne Moore attended with her housemate Denise Geddes, having recently returned from a spell in Limerick where she was in a pantomime with Twink. She said she couldn’t reveal much, but she would definitely be involved in upcoming Eurosong, the competition to find Ireland’s 2013 entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. Bets were already being placed last summer for her to be this year’s entry after she sang back-up vocals for Jedward in 2012.