Review: A Dismally Beautiful NORTH COUNTRY at Actor's Express

Actor’s Express has opened their 38th season with the acclaimed musical Girl From the North Country, now playing through March 8. With book by Connor McPherson alongside the songs of Bob Dylan, the jukebox musical’s UK and New York debuts in 2017 and 2018, respectively, earned favorable reviews and award nominations. While the company at Actor’s Express has put forth a dynamic and technically proficient production, the gloomy content almost sabotages it. Combining an Irish playwright like McPherson with the folk counterculture of Dylan is a match made for a Xanax or two, but the staging and skill of director Freddie Ashley and his cast help to alleviate the dismal tone of it all. 

Girl From the North Country tells the story of the Laine family - father Nick, mother Elizabeth, and grown children Gene and Marianne - and the residents of their Duluth, Minnesota-set boarding house as they near the end of their tenancy facing the grind of the Great Depression. Each of the family has their woes that add to the bleak nature of the show. Elizabeth is suffering from a mental disorder-cum-dementia that has led Nick to seek attention in the arms of an upstairs resident. Gene is a failing writer unable to find work but burying his sorrows in drinking. And Marianne, a black woman abandoned and adopted at birth, is five months pregnant, with little prospects. Throw in out-of-work tenants, an itinerant preacher, a mysterious boxer, and you’ve got a string of heartbreaks ready to happen. 

Justis Star as Marianne Laine.  Photo Credit: Brody Young

Even so, the sounds of Dylan’s tunes coaxed through the effortlessly talented cast make the audience feel both saddened by the plight and uplifted by the beauty of the performance. From the second the audience sits down, they are a part of the show, thanks in part to Actor’s Express’s traverse stage, but even more so to Seamus M. Bourne’s clever scenic design. Tinny Dylan tunes are playing before the show begins, opening with narration led by Peter Hardy’s Dr. Walker speaking into an old circular radio microphone. These microphones pepper the stage, giving the feeling of watching a live broadcast rather than a stage show at times. 

Anny Jules as Mrs. Neilsen. Photo Credit: Brody Young.

Robin Bloodworth as Nick Laine is the complex center point around which the family and boarding house revolves, and he so convincingly reaches down into gritty points that the audience both loves and hates him. His paramour Mrs. Neilsen is played with aplomb by Broadway veteran and Actor’s Express debutant Anny Jules - the control in her voice gives way to moments of ferocity and tenderness alike. Justis Star as Marianne also dazzles in her songs, and her performance of “Tight Connection to My Heart” is deceptively effortless, growing more plaintive and emotional, a perfect sound for a Bob Dylan number. Evan Kupersmith’s Gene is as multifaceted as his father, and Kupersmith subtly breaks down his emotional and physical control with ease through the play.

But the crowd favorite and the heart of the show is without a doubt the mother, Elizabeth, shining through the insanely talented Jill Hames. She is a superb actor, a fantastic pantomime, a genius of comedic timing - an insanely welcome respite in such a heavy show. During her rendition of “Like a Rolling Stone,” the entire cast joins her on stage, and while their gorgeously-blended vocals are a balm on the ear, I could not wrench my eyes away from her atop that central familial table.

Jill Hames as Elizabeth Laine.  Photo Credit: Brody Young.

With a fairly large ensemble for a generally small theater - the last show I saw at Actor’s Express had a cast of four - it takes some time to sort out who’s who.  Characters wander in and out of scenes as vocalists and percussionists before proper introductions are given (much thanks to Hardy’s aforementioned narrator). But each character is so fully fleshed out and superbly acted - the physicality of Riley Given’s Elias! - that it becomes easy. The cast also serves as part of the house band’s percussion section, interestingly enough, and many characters take a turn at the drums (big props to Pamela Gold as Mrs. Burke pulling double time with the drumsticks while also giving a dazzling rendition of “A Sweetheart Like You”). 

Russell J. Scott as Joe Scott, Riley Given as Elias Burke.  Photo Credit: Brody Young