'Girl from the North Country': Dylan musical

‘GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY
Written & directed by Conor McPherson
Music & lyrics by Bob Dylan
Belasco Theatre
111 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), www.northcountryonbroadway.com

By David NouNou

Hybrid musicals are constantly evolving. Originally started as pastiche musicals by songbooks from tunesmiths, examples being Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Lieber and Stoller’s Smokey Joe’s Cafe morphing into jukebox musicals the likes of Jersey Boys and Ain’t Too Proud—and let’s not forget the bio-musicals using an artist’s songbook: Beautiful, Donna Summer, The Cher Show and, most recently, Tina. Now we have musicals that create the story around an artist’s album and works, such as Alanis Morrisette’s angst-filled Jagged Little Pill (which opened last December). This brings us to Bob Dylan’s Girl from the North Country. Mr. Dylan was previously represented on Broadway in the abysmal The Times They Are a Changin’.

Girl from the North Country is set in 1934 in Duluth, Minnesota during the Great Depression, with no jobs and no money. Narrated by Dr. Walker (Robert Joy), he tells us about the characters that unfold in the story and their final Thanksgiving and Christmas in 1934 at the Laine’s rundown guesthouse and its transients. Nick Laine (Jay O. Sanders) is not only trying to save his guesthouse and home from foreclosure, he also has to take care of his dementia-riddled wife, Elizabeth (Mare Winningham) and his two children Gene (Colton Ryan), a shiftless drunken wannabe writer in his early 20s and an adopted black daughter who was left with them when she was a baby, Marianne (Kimber Elayne Sprawl), who is 19 and pregnant.

Nick is trying to arrange a marriage for Marianne with the wealthy 70-year-old shoe mender, Mr. Perry (Tom Nelis) in order to secure a home for her and her baby. Also, at the guesthouse is Mrs. Neilson (Jeannette Bayardelle) who is having an affair with Nick while awaiting her late husband’s probate to clear.

Also, at the guesthouse are Mr. Burke (Mark Kudisch) who has lost his business in the market crash, his wife Laura (Luba Mason) who takes care of their mentally challenged adult son Elias (Todd Almond), and the struggle to come to terms with their reduced plight.

Arriving late one stormy night, Nick takes in two borders, the self-proclaimed Reverend Marlowe and bible salesman (Matt McGrath) and a down-on-his-luck boxer, Joe Scott (Austin Scott), both looking for shelter. Now that all the characters are in place for the action to begin.

The book by Conor McPherson is engaging and you really get a feel for all the characters and how they are trapped in the situation of the day. They hope they can change their destinies, but the times are rough. This is where Bob Dylan’s songbook comes in and it doesn’t always mesh well with the storyline. Every time the story moves forward, a musical number is inserted randomly and slows down the proceedings, and here Mr. McPherson, in the role of director, doesn’t help the situation because every time a character has a song to sing, the rest of the characters form a back “doo-wop” singing group with microphones and finger snapping, all of which makes no sense. In Act I as you are getting to know the characters, the songs are forming the introductions in a way. In Act II, the songs become lugubrious and just halt everything with the added pointless dance movements by Lucy Hale.

The redemption of the evening consists of the hardworking acting and fine voices of the ensemble consisting of Jay O. Sanders, Mare Winningham, Mark Kudisch, Luba Mason, Robert Joy and Tom Nelis. However, the mellifluous and angelic voices are provided by the powerhouses: Jeannette Ray Ardelle, Kimber Elayne Sprawl, and Austin Scott.

At another time, this show would have been an interesting venture. What with the current state of the country and the economy, as well as the turmoil of the pandemic, I can’t say that this is exactly the antidote for the day, but Conor McPherson’s story is, regardless, still compelling.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 11, 2020
Reviewed at March 10, 2020 press performance.