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.
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.
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.
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 |
Videos