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 "profoundly beautiful" production (The New York Times) brought to vivid life by an extraordinary company of actors and musicians.
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.
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.
2017 | West End |
Original West End Production West End |
2017 | West End |
West End Transfer Production West End |
2018 | Off-Broadway |
Public Theater North American Premiere Off-Broadway |
2019 | West End |
West End Return Engagement West End |
2022 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2023 | US Tour |
North American Tour US Tour |
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