WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY CONOR MCPHERSON

MUSIC AND LYRICS BY BOB DYLAN

Girl From The North Country is an uplifting and universal story about family and love which boldly reimagines the legendary songs of Bob Dylan, like you’ve never heard them before.  

It’s 1934 in the heartland of America and we meet a group of wayward souls who cross paths in a time-weathered guesthouse. Standing at a turning point in their lives, they realize nothing is what it seems. But as they search for a future, and hide from the past, they find themselves facing unspoken truths about the present. 

The Broadway production of Girl From The North Country, currently playing at the Belasco Theatre, has received seven Tony Award nominations including, Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Orchestrations, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical – The production was also nominated in the Best Musical Theatre Album category at the 2022 Grammy Awards.   

Writer and Director Conor McPherson said of the Dublin and UK Tour cast “It’s a joy to be working with our supremely talented new cast. Each of them brings a terrific range of experience and energy to the show. it’s an absolute delight to embark on this new adventure together.” 

Bob Dylan said at the opening of the Broadway production: “To be associated with Conor McPherson is one of the highlights of my professional life. It goes without saying the man is a genius for putting this thing together and I’m thrilled to be a part of the experience. My songs couldn’t be in better hands.” 

Girl From The North Country first opened at The Old Vic in July 2017 to huge critical acclaim and playing to sold out audiences. It transferred to the Noël Coward Theatre in December 2017 and the production went on to have a sold out run at the Public Theater, New York in 2018.

Review by Jhez Bermudez:

• After a long and fairly stressful day at work I drove to Milton Keynes theatre for the Press Night of Girl From the North Country. Upon entering the auditoriumm, I immediately found myself being immersed into a dark period in Duluth, Minnesota in 1934. I could feel the melancholic mood as I saw the stage design which transported me into the time of the depression in America.
• Director Conor McPherson really knows how to make you forget where you are as his actors descend onto the stage with none of the usual announcements about taking pictures or mobile phones.  That opening prepares your mind for the surprises you are not expecting. I felt like a neighbour who is watching how a family go through their worries, sorrows & misfortunes in life. The superb acting and the excellent singing voices of the cast took me deeply into the experience of angst, pain, misery, the tragedy of broken dreams, unrequited love, racism, poverty – almost connected to what we are all facing in the world right now.
• To me it felt a bit slow in the first half, but brought us into the deeper aspects of such tragedy before your eyes in the second half where you become a witness of the never-ending depression each character has to go through in this dramatic play with songs of Bob Dylan which is heartwarming your soul.  So much so that I was in deep misery when I got to listen to the songs sung with such deep emotion. I was left in a sad state thinking how people suffer in such tragic moments of their lives. The Howlin’ Winds were the onstage band under the direction of Andrew Corcoran
• My friend Kelly who was with me agreed that the songs really changed the mood of this production. We were both delighted by the dazzling performance of Frances McNamee as Elizabeth Laine and the heart wrenching voice of Mrs Nielsen played by Maria Omakinwa.
• The Happy Thanksgiving Day really made me realise that no matter how hard life is, there is a reason to celebrate. Go watch this production and experience life’s tragedy unfold before your eyes which is almost like watching Blood Brothers and Billy Elliot that light can still shine amidst the darkness.
• Jhez Bermudez

Girl From The North Country Is at Milton Keynes Theatre from November 15th – 19th.

Box Office: 0844 871 7615 or www.atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes