Girl From The North Country: A Compelling Play, But A Dull Musical by James Wilson

 Girl From The North Country: A Compelling Play, But A Dull Musical

The phrase “musical legend” doesn’t begin to cover Bob Dylan. Over the course of a seven decade career, the singer has achieved recognition in a myriad of forms, including ten Grammys, 145 million albums sold, and a Pulitzer Prize. But a recent first for him is the translation of his work to a musical, realized in the recent Broadway show Girl From The North Country. Using exclusively songs from Dylan’s discography, the play tells the story of Nick, Elizabeth, Marianne, and Gene, a working-class Midwestern family who struggles to make ends meet during the Great Depression, with some great successes and as many questionable decisions. 

Unlike other adapted artists like Abba or Frankie Valli, Dylan’s oeuvre is sad, reflective, and folksy, which doesn’t translate well to the high energy, attention-grabbing medium of a musical. The vast majority of the numbers (my count was 16 of 22) are slow and pensive, a feature which, while not an inherent flaw, contributes to a noticeable lack of variety between songs. 

The distinct lack of choreography stifles the show even further, with shockingly frequent and lengthy moments of characters standing still at the microphone and singing with nothing else happening onstage. The actors themselves have beautiful, soulful voices (without a weak link in the cast), and it was a shame that the musical numbers were so stale, because it gave such evidently talented people so little to work with. I often caught myself checking the time during these songs, waiting until the next scene to begin. In a genre whose attraction is its dazzling musical performances, having the least compelling part be the musical numbers seems a criminal waste. The few standout numbers, including “Slow Train” and “Duquesne Whistle,'' have wonderful, foot stomping energy and compelling choreography to boot, which makes it even more unfortunate that the production chose to showcase only Dylan’s slow ballads and largely ignored his quicker, more energetic tunes. 

This deficiency is ever so frustrating because the story beyond the music is meaningful and absorbing. Through the setting of Depression-Era Minnesota, playwright Conor McPherson has created a subtly simmering tale of prejudice, poverty, and listless decay. It makes compelling viewing to watch the characters stumble through a series of tentative romantic relationships, attempt to reckon with severe mental illness, and slowly lose any grip they had on hope for the future. Everything the Laine family attempts seems to end in tragedy; Nick, Jean, and Marianne all have relationships that end before the curtain call, trusted tenants turn out to be criminals who try to steal from them, Marianne ends the story heavily pregnant with an absent father and only a slim support system keeping her from the streets. By the time Elizabeth delivers her stunningly sad monologue on her own personal abandonment in the final scene, the main characters have already settled into nothingness, and the show’s point has already been hammered in. It’s a sobering appraisal of a tragedy that crippled millions across the country, an embodiment of the voiceless poor who lived and struggled to survive during the Great Depression. 

Great in story but sonically lacking, Girl From The North Country is a perplexing mixed bag, but certainly worth seeing for a Dylan fan or someone looking for a sleepier, more subtle, musical. In these regards it succeeds, and I have no doubt it will find a dedicated audience for the entirety of its run.