The Bob Dylan musical Girl from the North Country will head to Broadway in 2020, following successful runs off-Broadway and on Londons West End.
Preview performances will begin February 7th, while opening night is scheduled for March 5th. The show will be housed at the Belasco Theatre and tickets will go on sale tomorrow, September 27th, at 10 a.m. EDT via the Girl from the North Country website.
Girl from the North Country utilizes songs from throughout Dylans catalogue, although its pointedly set in 1934, in Dylans birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota, (Dylan was born seven years later). The show centers around a dysfunctional family who run a boardinghouse that becomes a way station for a peculiar mix of characters, including a boxer and a sleazy preacher.
Work on the show began in 2013 after Dylan and his camp agreed to participate in the project. As a person close to Dylans camp told Rolling Stone, they didnt want the show to be about the musicians life, which drew them to Girl from the North Country, written by Irish playwright Conor McPherson.
Explaining why he chose to set Girl From the North Country during the Depression, McPherson said, By setting it before Bob was born, we could cut it loose from all associations with him and the Sixties. This gives it a feeling of the Nativity: that when Bob entered the world, everything changed.
The Broadway production of Girl from the North Country will boast a large ensemble cast featuring performers who appeared in the off-Broadway run at the Public Theater in New York, including Tony nominees Marc Kudisch and David Pittu, plus Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Mare Winningham. McPherson will also direct the show.
Girl from the North Country notably marks the second Dylan musical to hit Broadway, following Twyla Tharps 2006 bomb The Times They Are a-Changin, which closed after just three weeks.