The West Ain't What It Used To Be

An evening of conversation, country & western music, and Jell-O salad

Can Dolly Parton save America?

Many people worry about the state of democracy in the USA. Is it teetering on the brink? Is civil war looming? Are tech billionaires hastening its collapse?

Thanksgiving in Berlin. Fred and his American wife Rhonda have invited guests from their homeland to a turkey dinner. The conversation inevitably drifts from the American Dream through Karl May and western films to the question of all questions: what's happening in the USA? Somehow, Dolly Parton seems to be in the room - and a country & western band appears out of nowhere. The evening spirals out of control.

In the fourth installment of the series "Conversations with Cultural Icons," The Waltraud Experience, in co-production with ETB/IPAC, tackles one of the most pressing questions of our time: where are the United States headed? Right and left stand in irreconcilable positions, a stalemate has been reached. Country icon Dolly Parton is seen by many as a unifying figure - someone both sides can agree on. Yet on closer inspection, it becomes clear: Dolly prefers to stay out of it. She sings, she jokes, she preaches positive thinking - but politics? No thanks.