THE OLD VIC AND SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES CAST ALBUM RECORDING OF GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY
Written and Directed by Conor McPherson
Music and Lyrics by Bob Dylan
The Old Vic and Sony Music Entertainment today announces the release of the Official London Cast Recording of Girl from the North Country. Featuring lyrics and music by Bob Dylan, the album was recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios and will be available to buy, download, and stream on September 29, 2017. The album is available to pre-order now on Amazon.
Girl from the North Country opened at The Old Vic in July to 5-star reviews and runs until October 7, 2017.
The album is available to pre-order now on Amazon.
“A superb cast use Bob’s back catalogue to glorious effect in Conor McPherson’s astonishing cross-section of hope and stoic suffering in Depression-era Minnesota”
♥♥♥♥♥ The Guardian
“This is not, just to set the record straight, Bob Dylan the Musical. You don’t need to know his songs to fall for this play by Conor McPherson, which includes 20 of them. But if you do know them well, as I do, then there are moments when you can just close your eyes and melt into the night”
♥♥♥♥♥ The Times
“This is Dylan like we’ve never heard him before, 20 songs sculpted into plaintive but beautiful new arrangements by Simon Hale. Some numbers are familiar, others less so, but nearly all are delivered so hauntingly well by the 20-strong company that they send shivers down the spine as we hear the lyrics afresh”
♥♥♥♥♥ Evening Standard
“Henderson’s rendition of “Like a Rolling Stone” is laceratingly lovely, performed with vocal might and moral heft”
♥♥♥♥♥ The Independent
“Girl from the North Country is one of the most transporting shows I have seen in years…I came away feeling that Dylan has been writing not a series of songs but an unfolding chronicle”
♥♥♥♥♥The Observer
“Dylan’s songs expand the emotional palette: direct and gnomic, raging and desiring”
♥♥♥♥ The Sunday Times
“The arrangements – by Simon Hale – are ravishing”
♥♥♥♥ Time Out
“The effect, as dialogue and song bleed in and out of each other in a fluid, dream-like piece of theatre, is sublime”
♥♥♥♥ Metro
“Ballads of Bob make for a Dylan delight”
♥♥♥♥Daily Mail
“The music really makes it. Dylan’s great songs will have you singing into the back of your hand…Dylan fans have no choice but to grab their tickets”
♥♥♥♥The Mail On Sunday
“Dylan’s songs illuminate the action and the characters at various intervals…it works beautifully”
♥♥♥♥The Daily Express
“You don’t need to be into Bob Dylan’s music to get bursts of pleasure from Connor McPherson’s new play. But if you do happen to be a Dylan fan, boy are you in for a treat”
♥♥♥♥Radio Times
Written and directed by Conor McPherson, Girl from the North Country is aptly set in Bob Dylan’s hometown of Duluth, Minnesota. It’s 1934 and a community who are living on a knife-edge soon huddle together in the local guesthouse. The owner, Nick, owes more money than he can ever repay, his wife Elizabeth is losing her mind and their daughter Marianne is carrying a child no-one will account for. And, when a preacher selling bibles and a boxer looking for a comeback show up in the middle of the night, things start to spiral beyond the point of no return.
Brought to life by a 20-piece company of actors and musicians, award-winning playwright Conor McPherson beautifully weaves the iconic songbook of Bob Dylan into this new show full of hope, heartbreak and soul.
Conor McPherson said:
“I’m so delighted the brilliant talent of our cast will be captured at Abbey Road Studios. It’s been an honour working with them on Bob Dylan’s incredible songs. The reaction from audiences every night and the clamour for a recording has been overwhelming and is a true testament to their stunning voices.”
Girl from the North Country features songs from every period of Bob Dylan’s catalogue with new musical arrangements by Simon Hale.
Tracklisting
- Sign On The Window
- Went To See The Gypsy
- Tight Connection To My Heart
- Slow Train Coming/License To Kill
- Ballad Of A Thin Man (Instrumental)
- I Want You
- Blind Willie McTell (Instrumental)
- Like A Rolling Stone/To Make You Feel My Love
- Like A Rolling Stone (Reprise)/I Want You
- You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere/Jokerman
- Sweetheart Like You/True Love Tends To Forget
- Girl From The North Country
- Hurricane/All Along The Watchtower/Idiot Wind
- Lay Down Your Weary Tune (Instrumental)
- Duquesne Whistle/Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)/Is Your Love In Vain?/License To Kill
- Tight Connection To My Heart (Underscore/Reprise)
- Lay Lady Lay (Instrumental)/Jokerman (Reprise)/Clair De Lune
- Forever Young
- My Back Pages
Writer & Director Conor McPherson
Music & Lyrics Bob Dylan
Designer Rae Smith
Orchestrator, Arrangements & Musical Supervisor Simon Hale
Lighting Mark Henderson
Sound Simon Baker
Musical Director Alan Berry
Movement Director Lucy Hind
Casting Director Jessica Ronane CDG
Associate Director Joe Murphy
Baylis Assistant Director Jessica Daniels
Full cast for Girl from the North Country featured on the album includes: Sheila Atim (Marianne Laine), Ron Cook (Doctor Walker), Bronagh Gallagher (Mrs Burke), Shirley Henderson (Elizabeth Laine), Ciarán Hinds (Nick Laine), Claudia Jolly (Katherine Draper), Arinzé Kene (Joe Scott), Debbie Kurup (Mrs Neilsen), Kirsty Malpass (Ensemble), Jim Norton (Mr Perry), Tom Peters (Ensemble), Karl Queensborough (Ensemble), Sam Reid (Gene Laine), Michael Shaeffer (Reverend Marlowe), Jack Shalloo (Elias Burke), and Stanley Townsend (Mr Burke).
Musicians include: Alan Berry (piano and harmonium), Charlie Brown (violin and mandolin), Pete Callard (resonator and acoustic guitar) and Don Richardson (bass).