Why everyone must see the Tony-Nominated Bob Dylan musical!

Nominated for 7 Tony Awards® including Best Musical and Best Director – Girl From The North Country is the new Broadway musical that has taken the world by storm.

It is a musical for people who don’t like musicals.

If the idea of people bursting into song does not appeal, then this is the show for you. While it includes a host of brilliant songs, brilliantly performed, it isn’t a “musical” in the traditional sense. It is more like a fascinating and moving play that includes knock-out performances of some great tunes.

It was the toast of the West End.

This acclaimed musical had its world premiere at The Old Vic in London in 2017, and has had two sell-out return seasons since then, winning multiple Olivier Awards.

…and now it’s the toast of Broadway!

After a sell-out Off-Broadway run in 2019, the show transferred to Broadway, where it was nominated for 7 Tony Awards®, and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre album.

It was written AND directed by the amazing Conor McPherson.
Dublin-born McPherson has achieved worldwide success as a playwright of hauntingly beautiful plays like The Weir and The Seafarer, winning countless awards. This is his first foray into the world of musicals, but brings his distinctive and uniquely Irish style to the show.

Bob Dylan gave it the thumbs up.

The legendary Dylan gave his permission to have Conor McPherson create a piece of theatre using his iconic and unmistakable music. McPherson was determined to find a way to reimagine the music — and the result is something as genre-defining as the man himself.

19 Bob Dylan songs are featured in the show.

Bob Dylan wrote hundreds of brilliant songs, and many of the best of them are here, including Hurricane, Forever Young, and Like a Rolling Stone. Of course, it is his timeless Make You Feel My Love — now perhaps best known as its cover version by Adele – that will melt the hearts of audiences.

Everyone’s favourite Lisa McCune stars.

Some pretty amazing actors have played the role of Elizabeth Laine — the unpredictable and eccentric mother at the centre of the story, but Australian favourite Lisa McCune is right up there with them. Having tackled major roles on stage and screen for 30 years, she will bring all of her talent and stunning vocals to this juicy role. In fact, the whole cast is incredible. The production is packed with legendary Aussie stars (Peter Carroll and Helen Dallimore for a start). Oh, and did we mention that many of the cast members also play musical instruments in the show? Impressive, right?

The critics loved it!

It’s been universally lauded by some of the toughest and most jaded theatre critics in the world, even the toughest nut of the lot – Ben Brantley of The New York Times who swooned saying “It’s as close as mortals come to heaven on Earth” and he’s right – but you’ll just have to experience it for yourself.

Sydney Opening Night

Theatre Royal Sydney was a buzz on Saturday for the opening night (and Australian Premiere) of Girl From The North Country.

Sydneysiders, VIP guests and family & friends of the cast celebrated the triumphant opening of the production that has taken London & Broadway by storm.

The critically acclaimed hit Girl from the North Country, written and directed by Conor McPherson
and with music and lyrics by Bob Dylan, is set in 1930s Minnesota and centres on a community living on a knife-edge in the local guesthouse. Dylan’s songs are beautifully reimagined, with a live band on stage, and include Hurricane, I Want You, Slow Train Coming, Lay Lady Lay and Like A Rolling Stone.

Cast announced for Girl From The North Country

Girl from the North Country’s creative team today announced an incredible cast including Peter Kowitz, Christina O’Neill, Greg Stone, Blake Erickson, Elizabeth Hay, Grant Piro, James Smith and Callum Francis to join previously announced stars Lisa McCune, Zahra Newman, Terence Crawford, Helen Dallimore and Peter Carroll in the musical’s Australian premiere at Theatre Royal Sydney in January.

Grant Piro, Chemon Theys, Samantha Morley, Liam Wigney, Laurence Coy and Tony Cogin complete the impressive ensemble, with a band featuring Mark Harris, Tracy Lynch and Cameron Henderson under Musical Director Andrew Ross.

The critically acclaimed hit Girl from the North Country, written and directed by Conor McPherson and with music and lyrics by Bob Dylan, is set in 1930s Minnesota and centres on a community living on a knife-edge in the local guesthouse. Dylan’s songs are beautifully reimagined, with a live band on stage, and include Hurricane, I Want You, Slow Train Coming, Lay Lady Lay and Like A Rolling Stone.

Peter Kowitz (AFI winner and veteran of dozens of productions with STC, QTC, STCSA and Bell Shakespeare) stars as Nick Laine, the guesthouse’s owner who owes more money than he can ever repay, with Lisa McCune (multi Gold Logie winner and star of King And I, South Pacific) as his wife Elizabeth, whose mind is slowly deteriorating. Their daughter Marianne, pregnant to a man she won’t name, is played by stage and screen star Zahra Newman (The Book of Mormon, Wentworth, Wake In Fright) and their son Gene, played by James Smith (Jasper Jones, Euphoria and Hibernation for STCSA) is a drunk, would-be writer about to lose his girl, Katherine, played by Elizabeth Hay (the Helpmann Award winning Emil and the Detectives, Hibernation, The Gods of Strangers).

Other residents of the derelict house include a squabbling couple, with Mrs Burke played by Helpmann Award winners Helen Dallimore (Wicked [London’s West End], Legally Blonde, Muriel’s Wedding the Musical, Spring Awakening) and Greg Stone (Glengarry Glen Ross, Stuff Happens, Oklahoma!, Funny Girl) as her husband Mr Burke; their son Elias, played by Blake Erickson (); and Christina O’Neill (Calamity Jane, Vivid White and Avenue Q, for which she won a Helpmann Award) as the widowed Mrs Neilsen.

Regular visitors include Mr Perry, played by Peter Carroll (Helpmann Award winning star of over 100 productions, and recent recipient of an AM for services to the theatre), an elderly shoemaker whom Nick hopes might take Marianne as his wife; and morphine-addicted medic Dr Walker, played by stage and screen legend Terence Crawford (Romeo & Juliet, The Seagull, Hedda Gabler, 1984 and films Escape from Pretoria and The Babadook).

Late arrivals into this melting pot include Grant Piro (host of ABC TV’s Couch Potato, Hello, Dolly!, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Oklahoma) as a preacher selling bibles and Callum Francis as a boxer just out of prison, causing things start to spiral beyond the point of no return

The musical that left Bob Dylan in tears

Save up to $92.50 with 2-for-1 tickets on selected performances until 27th February*

Let’s consider the reasons critics are swooning and standing ovations keep coming for Girl from the North Country, an evocative musical pairing 19 legendary Bob Dylan tunes with the brilliance of Irish writer Conor McPherson.

The show, set in 1930’s America, tells the tale of those living through the Great Depression in a rundown guesthouse in Minnesota. All have intriguing, complicated stories but the arrival of a bible salesman and a down-on-his-luck boxer changes everything.

Cast of Girl From The North Country. Photo by Daniel Boud.

McPherson had the freedom to choose from Dylan’s entire catalogue while writing the original work, so you hear such classics as Like a Rolling Stone and Hurricane. Opening on the West End in 2017, followed by a Broadway premiere three years later, it has made its way to Sydney before a national tour including Adelaide and Melbourne.

Lisa McCune as Elizabeth Laine. Photography by Daniel Boud.

Stellar casting is pivotal to a successful show, with the Australian cast a perfect case in point. The revered star of stage and small screen Lisa McCune (King and I, South Pacific) reveals her fervour for the show.

“It’s rich in heart and song, and it’s a privilege to be sharing this magical experience with audiences. It’s a tonic for the times.”

Callum Francis (Kinky Boots) is beyond thrilled to be part of the production.

“Singing the songs of Bob Dylan, with a completely re-imagined take, is a dream. And performing every night with this cast of Australian legends is pretty special.”

Zahra Newman and Callum Francis – photography by Daniel Boud.

Other performers include Greg Stone (Oklahoma!, Underbelly, Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries), Helen Dallimore (Muriel’s Wedding the Musical, Legally Blonde) and Zahra Newman (Wentworth, The Book of Mormon).

The clever set design keeps you enthralled, as furniture is rearranged to create different locations within the guesthouse. Then there’s the local bar, where the music and dancing happens. While the direction of Conor McPherson is flawless, guiding you to empathise with the characters, as their stories unfold.

Glowing reviews, encapsulating the energy, passion, brilliance and grit of the show, can’t be ignored. Variety said, “When people sing, it’s as if they pop the bonnets of their brains and let us look inside.” The Sunday Express called it a “tribute and a triumph”. And from the Evening Standard – “exquisitely heartbreaking, a very special piece of theatre.”

Even Dylan was moved by Girl from the North Country telling The New York Times he was brought to tears when he experienced it, feeling both “stunned and affected” by the musical.

And as people flock to theatres during these unprecedented times, to be entertained and transported to another time and place, producers have patrons’ safety at the forefront of their minds. Theatre Royal Sydney has compulsory check-in, mask wearing, compulsory double vaccination for patrons 12+, regular cleaning of the venue, contactless payment options only, no cloakroom and no crowding in foyers.

Tickets are now on sale via Theatre Royal Sydney for performances up to 19th March 2022.

* Offer only available for platinum and gold tickets, strictly subject to availability – for selected performances up to and including 30th January 2022. ^A Handling Fee of $8.95 per transaction applies.