Written and directed by Conor McPherson - Music and Lyrics by Bob Dylan.
Sets and
Costumes design by Rae Smith - Lighting design by Mark Henderson
Sound design
by Simon Baker – Movement Director Lucy
Hind.
Theatre
Royal Sydney until February 27th.
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
 |
| The Company of "Girl From The North Country. |
This elegiac
portrayal of the lives of a group of people thrown together in a run-down guest
house in Minnesota during the depression of 1934 was inspired by the agreement
by Bob Dylan to allow access to his entire catalogue of songs for the purpose
of creating a musical.
In his program notes for this production,
playwright and director, Conor McPherson recounts how, tasked with this
opportunity, this guesthouse vision kept recurring as he sifted through more
than 40 albums of Dylan’s’ songs in search of inspiration.
Unlike other
musicals crafted from existing catalogues of popular composers, McPherson has
not shoe-horned Dylan’s songs into a storyline, but instead has used the songs
to create mood and question responses to the various predicaments in which the
characters find themselves.
Very much an
ensemble show with a stellar cast, each of whom portray a particular character,
but who also move scenery and props, play musical instruments and form choirs
around microphones to sing vocal arrangements which sensitively enhance the
singing of the various soloists, as their individual stories unfold.
The show is
set up by an introductory precis delivered by Terence Crawford as Dr. Walker,
who introduces characters, narrates the show and even explains what eventually
happened to various characters when the show ends. Even so, some of the individual
storylines are complicated, and demand concentration particularly when the
actors drop character, but remain in costume, to participate as backing singers.
During the
musical numbers the cast is often backlit to create atmospheric stage pictures,
or remain in full view as scenery flies in and out, occasionally revealing beautiful
panoramic sea-views behind them, creating the feeling of an on-going epic saga,
rather than a musical.
 |
| Lisa McCune (Elizabeth Laine) - Peter Carroll (Mr. Perry) - Peter Kowitz ( Nick Laine) |
As Elizabeth
Laine, the wife of the owner of the guest house, Nick Laine, Lisa McCune offers
a finely observed portrayal as a woman suffering an unspecified mental
condition, despite looking more like his daughter than his wife. Her rendition
of Forever Young is one of many
highlights. Peter Kowitz is excellent as Nick Laine, himself on the brink of a
breakdown brought on by his failure to manage the guest house profitably, his
wife and son’s mental conditions, and the fact that no one has taken
responsibility for the pregnancy of his adopted black daughter, Marianne, affectingly
portrayed by Zahra Newman.
 |
| Lisa McCune (Elizabeth Laine) - Zahra Newman (Marianne Laine) - Peter Carroll (Mr. Perry) |
Peter
Carroll commands every scene in which he appears as Mr. Perry the elderly
bachelor to whom Laine is trying marry off Marianne, while Callum Francis gives
a strong performance as the itinerant boxer, fresh out of jail for a wrongful
murder conviction, to whom Marianne is attracted.
Helen
Dallimore, as the flirtatious Mrs Burke, Greg Stone as her long-suffering
husband, Christina O’Neill as the mysterious Mrs Neilsen, and Grant Piro as the
con-man, Reverend Marlowe, all shine among a cast of strong character actors.
Despite its
leisurely pace, “Girl from the North Country” is a show guaranteed to leave its
audience musing over its characters long after the curtain has fallen, and even
for those who may not have previously counted themselves as devotees of Bob
Dylan’s songs, the hauntingly beautiful orchestrations and musical arrangements
by Simon Hale and Conor McPherson for the twenty two Bob Dylan songs which make
up the score for this show, are so superbly interpreted and sensitively
performed by the cast, as to be a revelation.
If you’re in
a mood for a revelation perhaps “Girl from the North Country” should be on your
“must see” list.
Photos by Daniel Boud.
The review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 10.01.22