Girl From The North Country NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsShow-Score Member Reviews (291)
See it if a sui generis pastiche musical melodrama: stark, melancholy, haunting. Act 2 is a heartbreaker. Astonishing moments in music and staging.
Don't see it if you might find its bleakness dour. It borrows tropes from old-timey Americana, but be prepared for an experimental sensibility.
See it if you enjoy brilliant staging & singing; you like Dylan & the enchanting way songs are used, even if not always explicit to the story. Mare W!
Don't see it if sorrowful story but you root & care for almost everyone on stage; you don't like stories with a heart; extremely talented cast/musicians. Read more
See it if you like shows with music tangentially related to the story, or you want to hear Dylan's songs EXQUISITELY performed by jaw-dropping talent.
Don't see it if you need a clear connection between songs and storyline. It's more "Once" than "Fiddler". It's a parable of a family during the depression. Read more
See it if SUPERB use of Dylan songs which feel organic to story & characters in compelling tale of Depression-era boarding house residents in Duluth.
Don't see it if you're not drawn by exceptional theater w/Eugene O'neill-type story/characters + GRAND HOTEL-type structure + Dylan's music. Pulls you in! Read more
See it if The “play” is a very absorbing and compelling story. The Bob Dylan music supports the play but does not drive the plot which is a plus imho
Don't see it if You like upbeat frothy musicals as this is a wonderful piece of drama that includes some wonderful Bob Dylan music
See it if you love Bob Dylan's music and are moved by a collage-style view of the plights of people living under difficult circumstances.
Don't see it if you need songs to reflect the exact experience of the characters who are singing them. The poetic license ultimately pays off hauntingly. Read more
See it if you want to see a beautiful show set brilliantly and seamlessly to music by Bob DYlan.
Don't see it if you are looking for a jukebox musical of Dylan's music.
See it if A long time fan of Dylan. Seeing his music worked by Conor McPherson into an interesting historical piece made for a great experience.
Don't see it if Not a fan of Dylan. Not one for stories that are not happy and peppy.
Critic Reviews (37)
"If McPherson’s characters shall not be released from their suffering, the playwright allows them, and us, deliverance through Dylan’s music—gloriously arranged by Hale, whose orchestrations embrace Dylan’s roots while providing soulful showcases for singers...If Dylan recognized youth as fleeting, he also extolled its virtues with as much urgency as irony. His and McPherson’s shared ability to find beauty in longing alone make 'Girl From the North Country' transporting and transcendent."
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"Powerful, ever-poetic Dylan songs have been exquisitely arranged as various solo, ensemble, and choral numbers by Simon Hale, the production’s music supervisor, and they are beautifully performed by a company of top-flight artists...The downside of 'Girl From the North Country' is that McPherson’s saga is so heavily stacked with sorrows that the show threatens to become a thoroughly depressing event rather than a deeply poignant occasion."
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"Set in a dark time, 'Girl From the North Country' creates a community on stage as do the best plays and musicals. Its tale of lost souls attempting to keep their heads above water is universal in both its message and its approach. Conor McPherson has never written so accessible a play before for Americans, and Bob Dylan's songs have never sounded so poignant. 'Girl from the North Country' is both unforgettable and not to be missed."
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“A completely fresh and different kind of musical, that despite the bleakness of its setting and plot will send the audience out exhilarated...While most of the cast has straight drama as well as musical theater credentials, some who are best known in one area surprise us with the way they handle the other...McPherson has succeeded in creating a production that has Dylan's music beautifully and completely integrated into this portrait of of his home town during the Depression."
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“First among equals is Mare Winningham as Nick's mentally challenged wife Elizabeth. While her mind may not be all there, she is not so far gone that she is neither unaware of Nick's affair with Mrs. Nielsen (Jeanette Bayardelle) nor of the unhappiness of her children, the hard-drinking Gene (Colton Ryan) and the sullen, pregnant Marianne (Kimber Sprawl). Winningham is often very funny yet ultimately poignant, and her renditions of Dylan's best-known numbers are simply indelible.”
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“One of those once-in-a-lifetime productions...The story by McPherson could not be more simple...Extraordinary cast...These are songs that you have never heard before even if you have heard them before. The arrangements and these voices seem to pull the lyrics down from the rafters and weave them into story...The panoply of events rolls out with excruciating detail and slowly seeps over the footlights into your core.”
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"Utilizing Dylan’s inimitable songbook as the emotional core of the piece, the story floats out like a lyrical poem tinged with perfectly orchestrated music and songs...The smooth and gently soulful piece, filled to the brim with desperation and hopelessness, blends compassion with desire...The music wraps us in sadness and warmth, all at the same time, ushering us into and out of something so mystically beautiful, that it is almost too difficult to pin down."
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“The abundance of characters is occasionally overwhelming, but McPherson wisely narrows the focus in key moments...The songs are so potent and the design is so atmospheric that I couldn’t help but consider if McPherson’s book scenes live up to everything happening around them...Some of the plot threads end up frayed and unfulfilling...The structural, tonal, and musical achievements of the production are thrilling, though."
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