The Bob Dylan musical Girl From the North Country has been shuttered since the pandemic closed down Broadway back in March. But the cast will reunite on December 15th at 7:30 p.m. ET for a free event on Facebook moderated by Elysa Gardner, a veteran music journalist that has interviewed Dylan many times over the years.
“The [cast] will discuss interpreting Bob Dylan’s words and music, as well as share some videos of the cast performing songs featured in the show, including content created during the shutdown and BLM movement,” a release reads.
The event will be presented by the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and will feature cast members Todd Almond, Jeannette Bayardelle, Colton Ryan, Kimber Elayne Sprawl, and Mare Winningham.
Girl From The North Country premiered at London’s Old Vic in July 2017. It takes place in a Depression-era boarding house in Duluth, Minnesota, and uses lesser-known Dylan tunes like “Slow Train,” “Sign on the Window,” and “Sweetheart Like You” to tell the story of its residents during a brutal winter. It moved to New York’s Public Theater in September 2018 and opened on Broadway in March.
“To its credit, Girl From the North Country doesn’t offer up a false, crowd-pleasing closer; it’s as sober as the historical moment it depicts,” reads a review by Rolling Stone‘s David Browne. “(It’s like Mamma Mia! on downers.) By the end of the show, the random encounters have left some characters broken and others uplifted; one of them dies. But like a Dylan show with strangely rearranged songs and a baffling setlist, it leaves you both humming its songs and puzzling over what you just witnessed.”
Dylan, meanwhile, released his new album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, on June 19th. He was supposed to spend much of the year on the road, but the pandemic forced him to cancel all of his shows. Unless something very unexpected happens in the next four weeks, this will the first year since 1977 where he didn’t play live even a single time.
From Rolling Stone US
