Bob Dylan’s lyrics—opaque, inscrutable and filled with alliteration and obscure historical references—easily lend themselves to thousands of interpretations, and almost any theatrical style. And his rich narratives are ripe for mining for poetic, contemporary effect. Yet somehow that didn’t happen in “Girl From The North Country,” now onstage in a North American touring production at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre.
In a quote from decades ago, speaking about his hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota, Dylan famously said, “I wasn’t born where I belong,” an example of his faint praise (and memories) of being reared near Duluth during the 1940s.
The musical, which premiered in London in 2017, hit Broadway in 2020 and is written and directed by Conor McPherson, takes place in Duluth in November 1934.
Every character is severely damaged, lonely, broken in spirit, compromised, emotionally crippled, and lacks the means, wherewithal, smarts (or perhaps the creativity?) to envision any escape.
Each of the ensemble members seems to be constantly musing: “There must be some kind of way out of here.” No one is even close to being well-adjusted, which seems to suggest that Dylan’s childhood imprinted upon him that the world was an often-dangerous milieu of constant suffering.
It further demonstrates that this sensitive lad (from a preternaturally young age) had his eyes opened to the existential predicament of (what we now call) the “human condition.” Dylan tuned in quite early to everyone’s travails and foibles.
The bleakness and complete despair onstage are omnipresent and suffocating. No character grows or has an arc, and there are no glimmers of hope in the paper-thin plot. Themes of hard luck, broken dreams and extreme poverty are expressed through Dylan’s songs, but too often rather crudely shoehorned into what passes for the plot.
On a positive note, the singers performed wonderfully, and it was a pleasure to hear Dylan’s music (orchestrations by music director Simon Hale) presented magnificently in a new setting. But though delivered with tragic awareness and undeniable beauty, the brilliant tunes (alas!) rarely assisted in any character development.
The minimalist single set is unobtrusive; the lighting and direction subtle, if only functional. Much like in “Our Town,” where the narrator is the stage manager, here the narrator is the town doctor, played by Alan Ariano, who channels the spirit of underrated Hollywood actor David Strathairn, in an understated, dignified performance. Of the entire 20-plus characters on stage, his is the only role that stood out (in a good way).
The musical highlight on Thursday night was the unexpectedly powerful “What Can I Do for You” from Dylan’s second Christian album, 1980’s “Saved.” Another highlight was “Hurricane,” with its syncopated and highly amplified violin.
But these were outliers; mostly the evening ended up being a “Slow Train” toward derailment, transporting the audience to nowhere. (Perhaps some theatergoers rushed home to play their favorite Dylan album—the only antidote to this problematic theatrical debacle.)
If Dylan’s canon of songs can be considered as tinder-filled (potentially incendiary) statues, then the opening night of this play was truly a textbook and rather depressing example of “statues made of match sticks, crumbling into one another.”
Over the past 62 years, Bob Dylan fans who have wished to torture themselves have found the most reliable way to do so was to simply play one of his notoriously “bad” albums (“Dylan” from 1970; “Knocked Out Loaded” from 1986; “Under The Red Sky” from 1990), though extra credit must be given to those who can sit through his god-awful directorial debut, the four-hour 1978 movie “Renaldo and Clara.”
But now, thanks to “Girl From The North Country,” these masochists have a new entre into painful theatrical torture. There is no redemption offered here…and that’s a pity.
Though Dylan truly can be considered The Bard of our generation, this despairing play will only tarnish his formidable legacy. The ennui is impenetrable. To conclude, and quoting the man himself, “Ain’t no use jivin’, ain’t no use jokin’, everything is broken.”
“Girl From The North Country” continues through Aug. 18 at the Golden Gate Theatre, 1 Taylor St., San Francisco. Tickets are $49-$150 at broadwaysf.com.