This month I saw and reviewed Renascence, the musical celebration of the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay. I went back to see it again despite a heavy theater schedule which confirmed my rave. Some critics were quite negative in their assessment which I found incomprehensible. That is why multiple points of view (and the existence of bloggers) is essential to discourse in the theater. I had heard great things about Girl From the North Country when it ran in London last year so I decided to attend only knowing that this was a show based on the music of Bob Dylan, the first songwriter to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. On the way home from the theater I decided to read some of the critic’s reviews. They were raves which I found incomprehensible.
Successful playwright Conor McPherson (The Weir, The Seafarer) wrote and directed Girl From the North Country. The setting is Duluth, Minnesota in 1934 during the Great Depression. Mr. Dylan’s songs are used to comment on the bleak despair blanketing America at the time. Racism, poverty, mental illness, criminals, false prophets and hooch all swirl around an inn run by the Laine’s (Scott Bogardus and Mare Winningham). There is a morphine addicted Doctor who vaguely acts as a narrator to occasionally outline the plot as the story clearly needs explanation. Elizabeth Laine starts off the show severely mentally challenged, unable to feed herself. By the end, her backbone is quite developed, she dances at parties and she’s got lots of opinions to bark. (Years do not pass by.) The story arc is preposterous and Ms. Winningham gives the one of the best performances in the show.
The problems here are numerous. The music and lyrics are quite beautiful but have little to do with the comings and goings other than to be moody and introspective. Repetitively the cast surrounds a microphone like this exercise is a radio show (?) concert. There is often no way – at all – to discern why certain characters are singing these particular songs (and why they return to the stage). This musical is all atmosphere and mood which is fine. If you make a big deal about creating a period piece (costumes, projections, storyline) then perhaps the actors should have some sense of place in their performances and dialogue. Was the word “fuck” THAT common in Duluth in 1934?
Is there anything to recommend in Girl From the North Country? The sound design was superb and the songs were delivered beautifully. The New York Times review made a big point that this show was not your standard issue jukebox musical. If frequently standing at a microphone facing the audience while (more than once) snapping your fingers and swaying your hips during group harmonies is not jukebox, then I’m confused. The songs were indeed nicely performed and richly evocative of Mr. Dylan’s commentary on America. They were shoehorned into a show that largely did not connect to them other than to set a mood. I was bored throughout this entire show.
As this musical was coming to a close, once again the Doctor (Robert Joy) had to come up to the microphone to tell us what was happening. We learned the fates of all the main characters years later. By that point, I was simply glad the evening had come to a close. When I left Renascence, I felt overwhelmed by the words of Ms. Millay’s poetry which was ingeniously connected to the character’s stories in her orbit. Comparing that show to this much higher budgeted affair at the Public Theater is unfair. One was a glorious celebration of the words of a woman who was the voice of her generation. The other was a jumble of well-intentioned affected skit-like musings celebrating the words of a man who was the voice of his generation. What’s the best word to describe Girl From the North Country? I choose terrible.