Interview: Tony Nominee Jeannette Bayardelle Talks GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY Role, Tony Performance & More

Jeannette Bayardelle, who stars as Mrs. Nielsen in Girl From the North Country, just received her first Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical!

Girl From The North Country received seven Tony Award Nominations in 2022, including Best New Musical, Best Book of a Musical (Conor McPherson), Best Orchestrations (Simon Hale), Best Sound Design of a Musical (Simon Baker), Best Direction of a Musical (Conor McPherson), Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical (Mare Winningham), and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Jeannette Bayardelle).

Girl From The North Country, written and directed by celebrated playwright Conor McPherson, boldly reimagines 20 legendary songs of Bob Dylan, as they've never been heard before. This spiritually uplifting and beautiful story is set in Duluth, MN, in 1934, when a group of wanderers' lives intersect at a house full of music, life and hope.

BroadwayWorld spoke with Jeannette Bayardelle about her first Tony nomination, what she's most looking forward to at this year's Tony Awards, and more!

You are nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical. How are you feeling?

I am so excited! First of all, I was happy they called my name first because I didn't have to wait, right? So when they called my name I just started crying more, because I was already crying every time I heard Girl from the North Country get nominated for something. By the time they called my name it made me cry really hard. I was just so excited. I was a little surprised, but excited!

How does it feel to be nominated for this role and this performance specifically?

It's definitely an honor and a blessing. I've been with Girl from the North Country from the first reading that we did at The Public. I remember talking to Conor, and I had just met him, I was talking to him about the piece, and I was like, "I really like this piece, there's something special about it." That room just felt energetic to me, and I knew that I was a part of something special. And I'm just happy that I stuck with it and they kept me with the show throughout the years. And we've been through a lot, from The Public opening in 2020, then 2021, 2022, and now we're nominated for seven Tony's. It's just amazing. I'm blessed. I feel like I've been given this beautiful gift.

Girl From the North Country got so much love at the Tony nominations, how does it feel to be nominated amongst so many other members of your company?

Oh my goodness, it feels good. As a company, our nominations, we feel seen, we feel heard, we feel appreciated. It's such a beautiful work, and for me to be nominated as Best Featured Actress... our cast is full of many wonderful characters, and I don't take for granted being nominated at all.

What are you most excited for with the Tony Awards?

I am excited about performing for the Tony's. Being able to showcase to the world what we do every night, what we feel, the presence, the spirituality, the joy, the love. Being able to share that with an audience that extends from the theater walls, I look forward to people experiencing what others experience every night at the Belsaco Theatre.