Review – Girl from the North Country, Old Vic

For a musical it wasn’t looking good.

Now in early previews at The Vic, Girl from the North Country has a pretty nondescript title and it plunders Bob Dylan’s back catalogue (ooo err, missus), an artist Phil has never truly embraced. Rae Smith’s set is of the minimal, deconstructed variety (musical instruments scattered around an empty stage with only a handful of backdrops popping in and out) and Mark Henderson’s lighting suggests someone has forgotten to put a shilling in the meter.

Then again, writer and director Conor McPherson wrote The Weir, which in Phil’s book almost gives him a get out of jail free card for life and the cast includes an impressive slew of reliable Whinger-Approved “names” (Ron Cook, Shirley Henderson, Debbie Kurup, Ciarán Hinds, Stanley Townsend and Jim Norton, the latter from the original The Weir cast which duly won him both Olivier and Tony awards for his troubles) suggesting this wasn’t going to be your average “jukebox” show.

We’re in Dylan’s birthplace, Duluth, Minnesota. That’s Fargo country, though sadly only some of the cast deliver a hint of that wonderful accent. It’s 1934, seven years before Bob entered the world. Nick Laine (Hinds) owns a guesthouse, where the guests mostly seem to get along rather splendidly, but he’s hopelessly in debt, his wife (Henderson – deliciously batty) has a peculiar dementia so he’s free to schtupp one of his guests, widow woman Mrs Neilson (Kurup). His adopted daughter Marianne (Sheila Atim – extraordinary) appears to be pregnant and is made an offer, from comfortably off Mr Perry (Norton), she finds easy to refuse.

A drum-bashing, bible-bashing, bible-selling preacher with body odour (Michael Schaeffer) turns up, as does a falsely-accused boxer (Arinzé Kene) which, if you know the Dylan canon, tips us off for “Hurricane“. Which, when it lands in Act 2, arrives with some agreeably jaunty choreography from the whole cast and an opportunity to watch veteran Norton attempt to line dance.

There’s a doctor (Cook – underused) who pops in and out to provide some morphine and narration and Mr and Mrs Burke (Townsend and Bronagh Gallagher) who come with an impressive Act 2 duet and a slightly backward son (Jack Shaloo) who reveals an incredible set of lungs in an unexpected show-stopper.

By the end of Act 1 Phil had to admit he’d been decidedly moved. Not to head for an interval departure, but that he’d done Bob a huge disservice. Take away Dylan’s annoying voice and hear them sung (often stunningly) with fantastic arrangements (take a bow Simon Hale) played beautifully by an on-stage band and cast members taking turns on various instruments; Phil felt the hairs on the back of his neck rising more than once. Especially during Henderson’s thrilling “Like a Rolling Stone” and a duet between Nick’s son Gene (Sam Reid) and his potential squeeze Katherine (Claudia Jolly), “I Want You”. Phil would sit through it all again just to hear Atim’s rendition of “Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)” which would have even more impact relocated towards the end of the show.

At the break Phil feared he might have to swallow his prejudices and dust off the 5 glass rating, but Act 2 doesn’t quite live up to the promise of the first. The biggest problem is there’s almost too much going on. The inevitable post-interval tragedy seems implausible in its handling and the many strands are wrapped up a bit too suddenly. But, early preview and all that, some of this may be sorted.

This isn’t your average musical and Phil wouldn’t rule out a return visit. Even the crepuscular lighting and scrappy design conjured up some rather gorgeous images on occasion, the book is more intelligent than most musicals and has a few laugh out loud moments. The songs don’t advance the action but rather provide atmosphere for the plot and characters. Some of the best known Dylan numbers don’t even get a look in. “Lay Lady Lay” is heard briefly and ironically as mood music in the background towards the end.

This will be marmite for some. But if Phil can be converted perhaps anyone can. Whatever next? Alice Cooper or Woody Guthrie musicals?

What everyone wants to know is will Dylan show up for the opening night? Nah. He’ll probably end up at Dave Stewart’s house instead.

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