Girl from the North Country, a huge hit at the Old Vic and West End in London and again at the Public Theatre off-Broadway was poised to be the hit of the 2020 season. But life had other plans which left the show with perhaps the most untimely 2020 Broadway experience this side of Six (whose opening night was scheduled for literally 3 hours after the Covid lockdown took effect). Opening a week before lockdown, the show went into limbo for a year and a half which broke its momentum and set it adrift in an uncertain environment as New York slowly crawled back to Broadway. Ironically, the show’s story became as disappointing and devastating as those of the characters who populate Conor McPherson’s tale of the intersection of a series of lost souls in a Depression Era guest house. Adding the music of Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Dylan (who is also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), and the combined effort is a moving evening of emotionally charged theatre.
This is actually the second musical to utilize the Dylan catalogue (the first was Twyla Tharp’s The Times They Are a-Changing , her follow-up flop to the more successful Billy Joel Movin’ Out). And I hesitate to call this unique and intriguing production a musical. While it does indeed contain over twenty of Dylan’s songs that influenced a generation, this is more of a play—a very dark play—with music. And unlike a typical jukebox musical, the songs are not tossed into a story to entertain, they are more intricately woven in to comment on the story, action, and characters, a sad annotation to the text of these lost characters, like a complicated Greek tragedy. This Girl most definitely does not want to have fun. She wants to provoke, challenge, and, ultimately, devastate its characters and its audience.
Writer and director McPherson has created a dark and despondent collection of characters struggling to economically, socially, and emotionally just get by during the Depression at a guest house in 1934 Duluth, Minnesota (where Dylan grew up). The stories McPherson has compiled for his characters are comparable to the despair conjured up by master tragedians like Eugene O’Neill or Arthur Miller, with a touch of Tennessee Williams’ mastery of mental illness and depression on the side. Each character is tragic and flawed, and Simon Hale’s Tony Award Winning musical adaptations of Dylan’s music (aptly dubbed as having had a “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical composition of extraordinary poetic power” by the Pulitzer Foundation) add multiple layers of emotional depth to the songs as they comment on the story in ways that are alternatingly rich, powerful, stirring, and (a word that will come back often in this review) haunting.
The cast is extraordinary, one of the most accomplished touring companies I’ve ever seen, solid and balanced from top to bottom. Among the residents and guests at the guest house include the put-upon proprietor Nick Laine (John Schiappa), his wife Elizabeth (at this performance, Kelly McCormick) who suffers from dementia, his son Gene (Ben Biggers), an alcoholic who has ambitions of becoming a writer, and his pregnant adopted daughter Marianne (at this performance, Rayla Garske), who was left at the house as a baby 19 years ago by a desperate guest. Guests include Mr. & Mrs. Burke (David Benoit and Jill Van Velzer) who lost their business and their home after the crash, their mentally disabled son Elias (Aidan Wharton), and Mrs. Neilsen (Carla Woods), a young widow who is having a not-so-secret affair with Laine. Other guests include Dr. Walker (Alan Ariano), the Laine family doctor who steps in and out as an Our Town-like narrator, Mr. Perry (Jat Russell), an elderly widower who Laine has set up with his unmarried daughter to hopefully give her and her baby security, and two mysterious new arrivals during a storm—the dubious Rev. Marlowe (Jeremy Webb), a shady bible-selling “reverend”, and Joe Scott (at this performance Warren Nolan Jr.) a former prize fighter who also sets his sights on Mrs. Neilsen. Again, more like a play than a musical, I cannot overstate that this cast is superb, an incredibly tight ensemble, making it hard to pointless to pick out strengths and stand] outs, because there are none. They function as a perfect and well-balanced unit. Vocally, they leave the original Broadway recording company on the floor.
McPherson directs his actors deftly with a strong and determined vision, weaving the musical interludes in for maximum emotional impact. He even mines Dylan’s prophetic lyrics for more than just their musical quality. They become more like lyrical verse for his characters to comment upon their dismal lives, again with strong parallels to the old Greek choruses of yore.
Scenic and Costume Designer Rae Smith combines and coordinates her efforts beautifully. Keeping the stage minimal—a bare space with surrounding space for a few musicians and furniture that the actors carry on and off for different settings, combined with an array of Depression era fashion that spreads from the more well-to-do Mr. Perry and Dr. Wagner and the formerly well-off Burkes to the working class Laines and the questionable Rev. Marlowe.
Lighting Designer Mark Henderson chooses a variety of dark and—here’s the word of the day again—haunting—effects, covering his stage and his actors with cumbersome and overbearing shadows, even employing the use of silhouette for his ensemble in many of the musical numbers and interludes. His work is distinctly visual and creates all the desired effects throughout.
And Sound Designer Simon Baker provides the clear, pristine sound we’re spoiled with at the Kennedy Center.
I will be honest: this show is not for everyone. If you’re looking for a Mamma Mia hit parade of the best of Bob Dylan with a few big splashy production numbers thrown in for good measure, this may not be what you’re expecting. So who is it for? If you’re a fan of the American tragedy and the thought-provoking work of Miller, O’Niell, or Williams as they show is the flawed human animal for what it is, this is for you. If you’re a fan of Dylan’s darkly poetic and prophetic music, or are especially of that generation it changed and defined, this is for you. If you hate the concept of jukebox musicals, but are open-minded enough to see what the genre can be if you combine the concepts with a visionary who can stretch the definition, this is for you. If you just want to see something like you’ve never seen before, this is definitely for you. Cheers to the Kennedy Center for being brave enough to present an unconventional and insightful play—with music—and taking a chance on providing art in all its extremes to demonstrate all a theatrical piece can be.
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission
The Girl from the North Country currently plays through December 31, 2023, at the Eisenhower Theatre at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street NW, Washington DC 20566. For tickets, call the box office at 202.467.4600 or purchase online