It started without fanfare but finished to a standing ovation. Listen to me when I tell you, Girl from The North Country is utterly unmissable.
Playing until Saturday at His Majesty’s Theatre, the Depression-era production features 21 Bob Dylan songs. However, this is not just another jukebox musical.
Captivating ensemble
Written and directed by Conor McPherson the audience is encouraged to see this instead as a “conversation between the songs and the story.” It’s an apt descriptor. There’s a Dylan back catalogue-sized gap between this and all the other greatest hits first, story second shows.
More of a play with music, it all centres around the kitchen table of a guest house that’s seen better days. The ensemble includes proprietors, Nick and Elizabeth, who similarly have experienced sunnier times. Elizabeth has dementia, their son Gene drinks too much and their adopted daughter Marianne is pregnant and unmarried.
Boarders include the Burkes who have a son with learning difficulties, Mrs Neilsen, a widow who’s involved with Nick, a bible-selling charlatan and a boxer. It’s all tied together by the narration of the town doctor, George Arthur Walker.
1930s America brought to life
From this table in Duluth, Minnesota, where Dylan himself was born, the angst-ridden story themes are revealed. Wrongful imprisonment and unrequited love to name but two.
Each song, including Like a Rolling Stone and Make You Feel My Love, only adds to the depth of each character’s portrayal, with the occasional full ensemble blue grass number punctuating the realities of life in the American 30s.
Frances McNamee is flawless as the tortured soul Elizabeth.
Liberated by her illness she can say what she likes – and she does – often with comedic effect. However, it’s her voice that captivates. When she sings Forever Young you couldn’t so much hear a pin drop as a tear wiped. Mesmerising.
‘No jazz hands needed’
More of a local highlight was Arbroath actor Gregor Milne who took on the role of the hapless Gene. His version of I Want You with his lost love Katherine was understated and beautiful.
This is a play that doesn’t need jazz hands and high kicks to keep its audience enthralled.
Capitalising on what was arguably Dylan’s most vibrant era, the show uses gospel tones and his masterful storytelling to pivot into the poignancy of race, poverty, injustice and mental health. It’s reminiscent of the emotional intensity of Blood Brothers.
Transcendent
I did smirk when an intoxicated Mr Burke, arguing with Mrs Neilsen about the merits of Franklin D Roosevelt, exclaimed: “What we need is energy not morals.”
In a week where a prospective First Minister and her Free Church beliefs came to the fore, it seems the script and not just the music can transcend time.
Yet despite the seriousness of the storylines, and the harshness at times of the language, the band – The Howlin’ Winds – weave a toe-tapping, hopeful lightness throughout.
Exquisite musicality
When Bob Dylan was asked whether he had managed to see Girl From The North Country before Covid shut down its Broadway run he replied, “sure I’ve seen it, and it affected me.”
I understand why. This double Olivier and Tony Award-winning show transforms Dylan’s songs in an almost visceral way; new but familiar, for now and from then. This, with exquisite acting, storytelling and soulful musicality, leaves its mark.
It ends with Maria Omakinwa leading the cast in a collective song to rival any show, anywhere. Trust me, I saw Wicked last week on Broadway – but this is the show I’d see again.
Girl From The North Country is at Aberdeen’s His Majesty’s Theatre until Saturday February 25. Tickets can be booked here.
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