PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh presentation of Girl from the North Country is at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh now through January 14th.
BY JESSICA NEU
As jukebox musicals have become increasingly popular, three distinct forms of the genre have emerged. There are jukebox musicals that use popular songs from an artists’ catalog to tell their own life stories (Beautiful: A Carole King Musical, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical). Then there are jukebox musicals integrating various popular music into a show to help tell the story (&Juliet, Moulin Rouge: The Musical). The third form of a jukebox musical comes when a single artist’s catalog is used as the show’s score. For example, Mamma Mia uses the music of ABBA, and the short-lived Once Upon a One More Time explores the catalog of Britney Spears. Girl from the North Country also falls into this category as it captures the discography of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Regarded by many as one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, Dylan’s work spans over 60 years and includes songs such as “Like a Rolling Stone,” “The Hurricane,” and “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Many more of Dylan’s prolific songs contribute to the dark yet deeply introspective plot of Girl from the North Country.
The show, written and directed by Conor McPherson, tells the story of Nick Laine (John Schiappa), who runs a guesthouse in Duluth, Minnesota, circa 1934. The bank is threatening to foreclose the rundown guesthouse. Nick’s wife, Elizabeth (Jennifer Blood), has dementia, which propels her from catatonic detachment and needing to be fed to manic outbursts, which are becoming difficult to manage. Their children are Gene (Ben Biggers), who is in his early twenties and struggles between being a writer and battling alcoholism. Their African American adopted daughter, Marianne (Sharae Moultrie), is nineteen and five months pregnant but will not reveal the identity of the baby’s father. Late at night, a self-styled reverend bible salesman, Reverend Marlowe (Jeremy Webb), and a homeless boxer named Joe Scott (Matt Manuel) who was just released from prison after being falsely convicted. The arrival of these characters and several other drifters brings forth even more emotional turmoil and highlights everyday life’s trials, tribulations, and stressors. As Reverend Marlow states, “life is terrible.”
(photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)
A significant challenge of this type of jukebox musical can be fitting the artists’ songs into the story without the efforts feeling shoe-horned. Often, in traditional musicals, the tension or emotion between characters builds to the point where a musical number feels like the logical progression in the scene, as it helps build emotion swell and reach a point of catharsis. The transitions into some of the musical numbers in Girl from the North Country can feel a bit jarring or out of place, but the chorus of numbers such as “I Want You” still delivers that cathartic tension release. Paired with the haunting support of an ensemble chorus that augments most numbers, Girl from the North Country is a masterclass in character development, acting, and pain.
I cannot recall seeing a musical in recent memory with the caliber of simply sublime, nuanced, and powerful acting by the entire ensemble. Each character is developed thoughtfully and impactfully, producing an emotionally gripping and riveting show. Each prop placement, lighting cue execution (Mark Henderson), and blocking decision (Choreographer Lucy Hind) is meticulously executed to accentuate the show’s troubled, dark thematic elements.
As the show begins, narrator Dr. Walker (Alan Ariano) declares that pain comes in all forms – emotional, physical, spiritual, etc. From the moment Girl from the North Country begins, each character exemplifies a different type of internal or external pain and even anguish. The result is a raw, honest depiction of middle America in the 1920s. Audiences are exposed to issues such as racial injustice, mental illness, infidelity, caring for a loved one, alcoholism, pregnancy out of wedlock, incarceration, physical illness, and spiritual conflict, showing how people living in 1930s middle America struggled with the same issues that still affect many Americans today.
Dylan’s score amplifies these themes as his lyrics metaphorically represent the myriad types of pain represented throughout the show. For me, the standout moment in the show came as Elizabeth writhed on the floor, singing, “How does it feel? To be without a home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone.” Regardless of what brought each character to Mr. Laine’s guesthouse, each person is navigating their struggles and muddling through the precarity of each day “like a rolling stone,” we genuinely do not know how each of them feels.
Dylan’s songs stemmed from the beatnik folk era of the 1960s when counterculture, progressivism, the hippie movement, and the civil rights movement were at their peak. Often, music and artifacts from this era are used to represent a lack of social progress or racial inclusion in our current moment. What makes Girl from the North Country so fascinating is how Dylan’s music is used to exemplify life 30 years before the songs’ inceptions. Dylan’s lyrics from the counterculture of the 1960s perfectly depict those in middle America in the 1930s. Returning to Dr. Walker’s comment that pain comes in all forms, perhaps we must consider how pain is an ultimate equalizer. Whether we are looking at middle America in the 1930s, the counterculture out West in the 1960s, or anyone in the present day, we all experience pain in some form. This show strips down any pretense or veneer to remind us that, throughout history, we are all simply human beings, sharing space as we try our best to navigate pain.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh presentation of Girl From the North Country at the Benedum Center has performances now through Sunday, January 14, 2024.
For tickets visit: https://trustarts.org/production/86816/girl-from-the-north-country
PNC Broadway in ittsburgh is a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
Categories: Reviews
Sorry I thought the play was awful.
First of all people with dementia do not act that way. I have had personal experiences with dementia in my family and they don’t crawl on the floor etc.
I still don’t know which girl was supposed to be the “girl” from the North country.
All they did was scream at each other then break into a Dylan song.
I don’t recommend this play to anyone.