The Girl From The North Country has come to visit us down in South Wales

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Blowin’ in on the wind this week to the Wales Millennium Centre, the double Olivier and Tony Award-Winning hit musical The Girl From The North Country takes up centre stage. Featuring the music and lyrics of the legendary Bob Dylan, this musical will fill you up with joy and bring you back down in tears.

Written and directed by Conor McPherson, The Girl From The North Country follows the crossed paths of numerous wayward souls in the winter of 1934, right at the peak of the Great Depression. Needless to say,
this show is not a ‘feel-good’ musical. Most events of the musical take place in the Laine guesthouse and in the modernist style focuses on introspective character driven interactions, rather than a complex plot driven
narrative. It may not be for everyone, as its story telling techniques are a departure from traditional musicals, but I certainly enjoyed this change of pace compared to most other shows I’ve seen.

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Knowing nothing about this show going in, but a casual fan of Bob Dylan’s music, I was somewhat surprised by the song choices in the show. No A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall or The Times They Are A-Changin here I’m afraid.
Again, in a departure from what seems to be the norm in this trend of musicals, based on an artist’s discography, the music is used to enhance an original story rather than have the story revolve around the music. A huge favourite for me, was Like A Rolling Stone which functioned as a big ensemble number for the show. It featured some striking visuals, emotive dancing, and such powerful vocals it gave me tingles to watch.

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The whole cast were as superb as you’d expect for a multi-award winning smash hit musical at the Millennium Centre, but a big standout for me was Frances McNamee, playing Elizabeth Laine. Her near constant presence
on the stage was intoxicating to watch, and her sporadic and powerful performance was so believable it felt hard to watch at times, but equally I couldn’t tear my eyes away. This of course was supported by an immensely talented ensemble who alternated between portraying characters in the story and stepping back into a role in the on stage band. The music was entirely produced by the cast and musicians on stage, which felt dynamic and magical to watch.

Overall, if you are looking for something outside of the norm of the shows usually featured at the Wales Millennium Centre then I couldn’t recommend The Girl From The North Country more. Its not a fun, happy
time but it will fill you up with its raw emotion, hard-hitting source material and extremely talented performances. If you are a fan of Bob Dylan or not, I think you should make the trip down the bay this week, I
promise you will not be disappointed.

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