Review: THE GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY at Durham Performing Arts Center

From the moment that the cast of Girl from the North Country enters through the aisles of the theater, it’s clear that this show is not your usual jukebox musical despite its usage of Bob Dylan’s catalog of songs. Normally I’d be praising a jukebox musical for standing apart from the genre, which too often is made up of lazily-constructed shows depending on the cash-grab of familiar music. However, Girl from the North Country has its own problems, notably that the music and the play around it feel completely disjointed. 

The show is set in Duluth, Minnesota in November of 1934, in a boarding house operated by Nick Laine. Nick is dealing with his wife Elizabeth’s illness, his adopted daughter Marianne’s unexpected pregnancy, and his son Gene’s drinking problem. Elizabeth seemingly has a form of dementia that has resulted in her needing help to do simple tasks and having outbursts of erratic behavior. Additional drama is provided by the other residents of the boarding house, like the Burke family, the widowed Mrs. Nielsen, and the newly arrived boxer Joe Scott. 

Writer and director Connor McPherson takes on a lot in the crafting of his story, which is filled with difficult-to-decipher secrets and metaphors. It addresses the racism that the Black characters are facing, the limited options for a woman to make her way in the world in the 1930s, the difficulties of caring for a sick family member, and the failure of businesses during the Great Depression. It’s an overwhelmingly gloomy tale that struggles with what it wants to say and ends up failing to impart any sort of meaningful takeaway. 

Even more troubling is the lack of integration of the music into the story. Girl from the North Country reimagines many songs by Bob Dylan but doesn’t even seem to attempt to make them fit into the story cohesively. It teeters between being a musical and a play with music; at times, it feels like a concert is occurring that keeps interrupting the actual action of the play. 

Despite these issues, the national tour production is saved from being a complete slog to watch by its wonderful cast and atmospheric design by Rae Smith. John Schiappa excellently is the glue that binds everyone together as Nick Laine, while Jennifer Blood handles Elizabeth’s somewhat unnerving behavior empathetically. 

Sharaé Moultrie and Matt Manuel are highlights of the show, with their gorgeous voices making Marianne and Joe two of the most appealing characters. Carla Woods, playing Mrs. Nielsen, is also vocally impressive and gets several moments to shine throughout the show’s two acts. Ben Biggers, meanwhile, is the acting standout as he portrays the complicated (and often drunk) character of Gene. 

Despite the show's flaws, I can see how in a smaller, more intimate theater, it would be a much better experience. It began its life in The Old Vic and The Public which both have more of an ability to draw the audience into the show, because of their smaller sizes. However, in DPAC’s large auditorium, it feels lost – the sets look short on the stage and the oppressive atmosphere the characters are suffering under has too much space to seep out and save the audience from feeling what they’re feeling. The Girl from the North Country is proof that the space that a show is in can greatly impact the audience’s experience of it, and the wrong type of theater can highlight its flaws. 

The Girl from the North Country is at DPAC until January 7. You can find more information and purchase tickets here.

Photo Credit: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

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