Photo by Matthew Murphy
Girl from the North Country
Call it a homecoming of sorts? The critically acclaimed Broadway musical, Girl from the North Country will set out on a North American tour in the fall of 2023, the Hennepin Theatre Trust announced this week. The musical, which features 20 legendary Bob Dylan songs and is nominated for seven Tony Awards, will make its touring debut at the Orpheum Theater and will also stage the production’s technical rehearsals.
"It's quite an honor for Hennepin Theatre Trust to launch the national tour given Minnesota's love of Bob Dylan and what he has meant to the state and the Orpheum Theatre," said Mark Nerenhausen, Hennepin Theatre Trust president and CEO, in a statement. "Bob Dylan owned the Orpheum during the 1970s and 1980s making this a full circle moment of celebration of his iconic music and storytelling."
The story is set in Duluth—Dylan’s hometown—in 1934, when a group of wanderers’ lives intersect at a house full of music, life and hope. The play is written and directed by celebrated Irish playwright Conor McPherson and produced by Tristan Baker and Charlie Parsons for Runway Entertainment.
After its kickoff in Minneapolis, the tour is scheduled to hit Baltimore, Buffalo, Dallas, Greenville, Las Vegas, Seattle, Tulsa and Washington, D.C. More details like full cast and additional dates will be announced later this year.
The show is currently playing a strictly limited engagement on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre. The production originally opened on Broadway on March 5, 2020 but was forced to close a week later due to the pandemic. It later reopened on October 13, 2021 and played through January 23, 2022 but closed again due to the Omicron surge. It reopened for its limited engagement run on April 29 through June 11 and has earned seven Tony nominations including “Best Musical.” The Original Broadway Cast Album also earned a 2022 Grammy Award nomination for “Best Musical Theater Album”
It is currently playing across the globe in Australia with a UK and Ireland tour set to launch next month, opening in Dublin on June 25.
