Review Roundup: GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY Launches North American Tour

The North American tour of Girl From the North Country is now underway, after launching in October in Minneapolis, MN.  

Written and directed by celebrated playwright Conor McPherson and featuring Tony Award-winning orchestrations by Simon Hale, Girl From the North Country reimagines 20 legendary songs of Bob Dylan as they’ve never been heard before, including “Forever Young,” “All Along The Watchtower,” “Hurricane,” “Slow Train Coming,” and “Like A Rolling Stone.”   

 It’s 1934 in Duluth, Minnesota. We meet a group of wayward travelers whose lives intersect in a guesthouse filled with music, life and hope. Experience this production brought to vivid life by an extraordinary company of actors and musicians.  

Read the reviews here!

Jared Fessler, BroadwayWorld: The musical elements were a standout, and the entire cast delivered outstanding performances. The chemistry among the actors and their characters was palpable, tackling profound and challenging subject matters with depth. Jennifer Blood, in the role of Elizabeth Laine, navigated her challenging character with finesse, infusing moments of comedic brilliance that had the audience in fits of laughter. Matt Manual (Joe Scott), Sharae Moultrie (Marianne Laine), and Carla Woods (Mrs. Neilsen) delivered stunning musical numbers, beautifully complemented by the robust chorus from the ensemble.

Jacob Aloi, MPR News: It wasn’t until a few hours removed from the production — and consulting online sources — that the show’s message finally clicked for me. Perhaps the nontraditional structure of the show made the themes go over my head, but the slice-of-life plot kept me from really connecting with any of the characters. This isn’t due to the fault of the performers or McPherson’s script. Rather, I think this show wasn’t meant to adhere to my sensibilities of storytelling.

Jay Gabler, Duluth News Tribune: The playwright, working with Dylan's blessing but not his participation, created the show as a large ensemble piece that captures several characters at one specific junction in history. When you deduct the length of the songs from the length of a two-act musical, that leaves very little time to explore any character's story in-depth. That has the effect of lightening the narrative load on any given song.

Rohan Preston, Star Tribune: From the haunting opening through the rousing coda — and you will want to stay for the gospel-inflected uplift that comes after the plaintive narrative ends — this ballyhooed production is studded with gorgeous moments. But those flashes of brilliance do not cohere into something urgent and vital. And 'Girl' loses its energy and oxygen along the way.

Ross Raihala, TwinCities.com: “Girl from the North Country” will please Dylan fans who are comfortable (and even eager) to hear his music performed in unexpected new arrangements and, again, the show is often fun to watch. But those seeking a coherent and engaging story will have as much luck as a bunch of down-and-out sad sacks in the Great Depression .

Taylor Clemons, BroadwayWorld: This is a true ensemble show. I found everyone on this touring company held their own. For me, the standout performances are from Jennifer Blood as Elizabeth and Sharaè Moultrie as Marianne, her adopted daughter. Blood’s character struggles with mental health. Being 1934, her condition is never given a name, but it’s undoubtedly and totally affected her family as her condition has gotten worse over the years. In one moment, she will have you dying of laughter, and the next breaking your heart. The role is a feast and Jennifer Blood, the fine performer she is, leaves no crumbs. Sharaè Moultrie has a gifted vocal talent, and beautifully delivers my favorite song in the show “A Tight Connection to My Heart”. Moultrie also turns in a wonderful dramatic performance as a well-meaning daughter trapped between two worlds.

Christine Howey, Cleve Scene: At first glance, the play with music Girl from the North Country, now at Playhouse Square, would seem to be the theatrical version of Dagwood's gastric monstrosity. It has too much of everything—too many characters with too many problems set in a too-dreary place, infused with Bob Dylan music that includes too-few of his iconic tunes. And yet, this towering and teetering collection of deliciously downbeat vignettes and mystically evocative songs manages to worm its way into your mind and heart, leaving you licking your fingers and burping contentedly when the 150-minute show is concluded.

Roy Berko, BroadwayWorld: The singing voices are strong, the music well-played, the technical aspects well done. The sound system leaves much to be desired as spoken voices are not well-heard. Don’t expect the usual Broadway glossy set, special effects, fancy costumes, or electronic effects. If you are a Dylan-fanatic, are into his music and/or want to sit back and listen to his songs, while paying a little attention to a slight story, this will be your thing! Me? I’m looking forward to FUNNNY GIRL and COMPANY, later in the season offerings.

Bill Kellert, Nippertown: The cast of 17 has strong voices that reach to the back of theater with pathos and pain that resonates to the core. Sharae’ Moultrie as Marianne, Ashley D. Brooks as Mrs. Neilsen and Aidan Wharton as Elias have provided the production world-class voices and soaring vocals that rise above an already outstanding cast.

Steve Barnes, Times Union: Even at intermission on Tuesday night, I thought I was seeing something remarkable. “I’m loving this,” reads a text I sent after the first act. But notebook entries from the second half include “mystic hoo-hah” and “mawkish looong monologue about getting older. Utterly uninteresting compared w/Dylan.” As we left the theater, I told my companion, “I did not expect the strange, beautiful bus would drive off a cliff after intermission.”

Nicole Ackman, BroadwayWorld: Despite these issues, the national tour production is saved from being a complete slog to watch by its wonderful cast and atmospheric design by Rae Smith. John Schiappa excellently is the glue that binds everyone together as Nick Laine, while Jennifer Blood handles Elizabeth’s somewhat unnerving behavior empathetically.

Greg Kerestan, BroadwayWorld: Written and directed by Conor McPherson, Girl From The North Country is a musical that still feels like a play with music. It's a show aimed more directly at the head than the heart, and jammed with tropes, references and outright character homages to notable works of American Gothic literature. (This, I suspect, is where much of the audience likely got lost: it's often hard to enjoy a genre pastiche when you're neither deeply aware of the genre, or aware that you're seeing a pastiche.) When the show rockets into music mode, often with actors onstage picking up instruments or turning into 'radio singers' around a microphone, none of the vagaries of plot and characterization matter much anymore. Like Spring Awakening, this is an impressionistic musical, rather than a representational one: what is being sung matters more as a mood piece and as a soundtrack cut than as actually related to character or situation. Mamma Mia, this is not.

Scott Tady, The Times: 'Girl From The North Country' offers strong singing, particularly from the very likable Matt Manuel, who plays boxer Joe Scott, once framed for a serious crime he did not commit, and Carla Woods, who plays Mrs. Nielsen, a widow staying at the run-down boarding house as she awaits a probate judge to authorize a cash payment from her deceased husband's will.

Jordan Soldaczewski, Buffalo Rising: GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY was not what I expected. This musical had a lot of good laughs, but also a lot of dreariness. I guess that should be expected for a play set in the depression, but still I expected more hope than what we got. There were several plotlines that didn’t really always intersect, but they did shed light on the complexity of each of the characters. Hopefully reading this will help you stay up to speed on the many characters and their unique storylines while you’re at the show.

Alan Portner, BroadwayWorld: Your personal musical and theatrical tastes will decide whether or not you like “Girl from the North Country. It got very good reviews in London, on Broadway and on its various international tours.

Jeffrey Ellis, BroadwayWorld: The production’s use of the songs of Bob Dylan offers audiences a unique perspective on his body of work, hearing some of his more familiar songs as if new and as yet to be experienced. If anything, Girl From the North Country gives aficionados and even those totally unfamiliar with the depth of his songwriting talents an opportunity to luxuriate in the poetry of his words, and to listen to the musicality of his compositions with an open mind and heart.

Anne Spiselman, Hyde Park Herald: As a Dylan fan, I missed the roughness of his performance style, even though I love covers of his songs by artists like Joan Baez. Despite the folksy edge and period instruments, many of the arrangements were molded into a musical theater mode, so they start to sound much like each other and like the anthems and ballads in so many other shows. The compensation is that most of the ensemble members have marvelous voices, so the solos, group numbers and chorales all sound great.

Dennis Polkow, New City Stage: The end result is something that defies categorization. Is “Girl From the North Country” a musical? Not by any previously recognizable template. A play with songs? Perhaps, but in the world the work inhabits, words and music and songs seamlessly intersect, even if the lyrics are often left to linger at their own pace.

Jamie Flowers, West End Best Friend: Girl From The North Country features a brilliant cast that truly bring their own unique voices to many well-known Bob Dylan classics. The story takes place in the boarding house owned by Nick Laine (played by John Schiappa) who is deeply troubled but trying his best to take care of those he loves. His wife (Elizabeth Laine) is played by Jennifer Blood who has a fantastic voice but has a take on dementia that unfortunately came across as harsh and somewhat cartoonish. The cast that stood out the most are Sharaé Moultrie (who plays a gentle yet firm Marianne Laine), Matt Manuel (who played ex-convict Joe Scott with gentleness and earnest) and David Benoit (Mr. Burke) with Jill Van Velzer (Mrs. Burke) who in addition to acting and singing, also played the drums. In fact, many of the musicans were integrated into the cast which is always fun to watch as they become part of the scenery.

Jacquinn Sinclair, WBUR: That said, the narrative lacked emotional resonance for this audience member. Despite the two-hour run time, there were so many characters, each with snippets of their own backstories, that didn’t have a chance to develop, thus making the show a little incoherent.

Drew Eberhard, BroadwayWorld: Bob Dylan’s music is centrally located in the story, helping to propel the action forward, and allow the audience to take a journey with its characters, but Dylan himself is not a character in the story, nor is he ever mentioned. The story takes place in Dylan’s birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota, and its setting is ushered in a mere seven years before Dylan’s birth. All the songs are performed on instruments that would have been readily avail in 1934. McPherson stated that Dylan’s record company approached him in hopes of creating a stage work featuring Dylan’s music, and in no way should be considered a jukebox, but rather a story in which characters reveal themselves, and their circumstance throughout using economic writing.

Rich Lopez, Dallas Voice: The story is compelling but with no real stakes made for an entirely different vibe from most musicals. The showtunes aren’t big spectacles. McPherson’s storytelling was well-crafted but gloomy in tone throughout. The show and the songs never really led to a big moment so in many ways, North Country felt more like a dramatic play with songs rather than a musical.

Victoria Schwarz, BroadwayWorld: In set design and staging, we see these stories packed together tightly in the living spaces of the boarding house, much like the families of the Great Depression would have been cramped into their own homes. The audience begins to understand that there is little privacy, an ever-present need for money and stability, and the near-impossibility of staying out of each other’s way physically, temperamentally, and emotionally. They eat elbow-to-elbow, they dance within inches of one another, and inevitably collide disastrously with one another, ultimately surrounding one another with death, violence, desperation, loneliness, and helplessness. Yet, as the best tragedies offer, there is beauty in the midst: hope glimpsed in the meeting of Marianne Laine and Joe Scott, grace offered from Mr. Perry to Gene Laine, tattered love salvaged by Nick for Elizabeth Laine, and strength claimed by Mrs. Neilsen. All of which is surrounded and amplified by Simon Hale and Conor McPherson’s stunning arrangements and orchestration of Dylan’s songs.

Brett Cullum, BroadwayWorld: It’s not your typical toe-tapper, nor is it a straightforward play. It is a “jukebox musical” featuring the spectacular songs of Bob Dylan, married with a weighty book by acclaimed playwright Conor McPherson. I would term it as a musical play, a narrative where songs are woven in, yet they do not carry plot points or move the story forward. Instead, Dylan's songs are inner monologues of the characters or emotional counterpoints to events happening before you. I would say it is haunting, revelatory, and a triumph of emotional narrative. It is not a flashy musical with special effects and huge dance numbers, but rather a somber meditation on Depression Era America and deep cuts of Bob Dylan’s songbook. It’s brilliant, and it will make you think. It’s akin to watching ghosts sing Americana arias, something you will never quite shake.

Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times: The book is unwieldy and far too complicated for a musical that shifts gears into songs that have their own lyrical intricacy. The numbers are staged in a manner that’s more or less independent from the fictional dilemmas giving rise to them. Sometimes the performers croon before a standing microphone. Other times they assemble in the style of a gospel chorus. “I Want You” is one of the exceptions, coming at a time when Gene and his ex-girlfriend Kate (Chiara Trentalange) are acknowledging in song what they are doing a shabby job of hiding in their cool goodbye. (Biggers and Trentalange make the most of their number.)

Beverly Cohn, Splash Magazines: Sheer perfection is what you get when you combine Conor McPherson’s brilliant script and sharp direction with Bob Dylan’s iconic music and lyrics, supported by dazzling dance sequences by a talented ensemble supervised by movement director Lucy Hind. Sprinkle in Timothy Splain’s musical direction, Simon Baker’s sound design, Mark Henderson’s kaleidoscopic lighting design with Rae Smith’s scenic and costume design and you get the thrilling pitch-perfect National Touring Company’s production of Girl From The North Country currently shining on the Pantages stage.

Kevin Taft, We Live Entertainment: The cast is uniformly good, with the standouts being Blood, whose somewhat loony character has some of the show’s most emotional moments, Woods, the secret love of Nick’s life, and Manuel, the boxer with a heart of gold.

Hayley Westwood, BroadwayWorld: One of the most captivating voices on stage was that of Matt Manuel as Joe Scott, whose vocal runs were clear, smooth, and chill-inducing in “Slow Train” and others. Kelly McCormick was a delight in her understudy role as Elizabeth Laine, delivering much-needed comic relief and also beautifully poignant soliloquies and gripping vocal displays. Aidan Wharton as Elias Burke really shows off his vocal range and metered vibrato in “Duquesne Whistle.” Swing Rayla Garske absolutely shone as Mrs. Nielsen, with both fun and gorgeous vocal stylings in “Went to See the Gypsy,” to a more haunting experience in the show’s finale, “Pressing On.”

Nancy Van Valkenburg, Gephardt Daily: The songs, accompanied by on-stage musicians, are beautiful and moving, although many of them are unrecognizable as Dylan’s, with his distinctive singing style and edge removed. Not all of them seem to relate to what is going on in their scenes. But the playing and singing is folksy and enjoyable.

Jay Irwin, BroadwayWorld: As I said, it’s a bleak story, but definitely a slice of life of people in that era who were constantly backed into a corner with very little choices for their futures. And the book and direction from McPherson is so deliberate that you just need to hang on. The songs are stunning as many of Dylan’s songs are but are presented often times in a more concert/revival sort of way as the inner thoughts of these people suddenly burst forth, backed up by the rest of the town.

Julie Hanson, Seattle's Child: We left “Girl from the North Country,” the new touring Broadway show now playing at Seattle’s Paramount Theater, feeling mostly baffled and a little bummed out. (We watched the whole thing. A few people left at intermission, and others made a quick getaway between the final number and the curtain call.) What was that show about? What was the point? Why didn’t they take all that talent and just put on a concert instead?

Andrew Gilbert, Datebook: But in “Girl From the North Country,” Irish playwright Conor McPherson ingeniously deploys nearly two dozen Dylan tunes within a fraught but elusive skein of stories, imbuing even the most familiar lyrics with strikingly fresh possibilities. Running through Aug. 18 at the Golden Gate Theatre, the Tony Award-winning musical is a strange, haunted and ultimately glorious production featuring a stellar cast with the pipes to make the most of the material.

Herbert Paine, BroadwayWorld: The songs are taken from the Bob Dylan catalog of music. While they were written between the '60s to the mid-80s and meant to reflect the time and year in which they were originally released, the musical style of presentation, adapted by Simon Hale and performed on instruments of the time, is surprisingly effective when used to reflect the bleakness of the Depression in 1934.

Seth Kubersky, Orlando Weekly: Stripped of its score, Girl From the North Country would make a fine straight play, so perhaps its biggest surprise is how the musical’s biggest name — 1960s icon Bob Dylan, who contributed nearly two dozen of his classic songs — takes on a supporting role, rather than hogging the spotlight. Unlike virtually every other jukebox musical, Dylan’s songs are not presented diegetically within the context of a biography, nor are they fully integrated into the dramatic storytelling. Instead, music mostly serves as scene transitions, commenting emotionally or thematically on the action without necessarily being literally related to the lyrics.

Penny Tannenbaum, BroadwayWorld: As much as we both love Dylan – my wife Sue and I held hands when the mighty “Hurricane” was sung – Girl from the North Country never fully connected with us. The boxer and escaped convict in McPherson’s script is Joe Scott, we’re in 1934 Duluth (three years before Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was born), and when Warren Nolan Jr.* plunges into the song, he must segue into “All Along the Watchtower” long before the tale of the framed boxer reaches its epic, cumulative power and intensity.

Average Rating: 71.1%