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.
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.
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.
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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