Conor McPherson's hit musical Girl from the North Country embarks on a UK tour

Then there are those that seem so obviously terrible or overly-ambitious that you can’t quite believe anyone would even make the attempt. Think Mamma Mia! – obvious. Les Miserables? Obviously terrible and or overly ambitious.

Girl From the North Country lies somewhere between the two.

A musical that takes the songs of Bob Dylan, reimagines them, and builds a story around them. That’s the pitch for Girl from the North Country, a musical that could either be triumphant or disastrous: Dylan’s songs already are stories, surely making a musical of them is gilding the lily?

Well, not if you have one of the finest writers of his generation in creative control.

Conor McPherson, one of the most celebrated modern dramatists, is the man behind the script and also the director of the production of Girl From the North Country and, if you had any doubts about whether or not the production works, Dylan himself said: “To be associated with Conor is one of the highlights of my professional life. It goes without saying the man is a genius for putting this thing together and I’m thrilled to be a part of the experience. My songs couldn’t be in better hands.”

It’s quite the endorsement.

Back in 2017, pre-pandemic, the world got the chance to see a musical that would go on to Broadway and is about to embark on a UK-wide tour. The story goes back a few years earlier when McPherson was brought on board and Dylan’s management company sent the playwright a package of 60 discs, a gift box of Bob Dylan albums that still sit on McPherson’s bookshelves. He came up with the vision for what a Dylan musical might look and sound like while walking beside the sea near where he lives. He describes it as a Eugene O’Neill kind of idea that would talk about the Depression era.

“It’s a time that continues to resonate with us,” he says. “We all wonder how we would cope when the chips are down, because that’s who we really are. When all the distractions of modern life are stripped away, people think ‘how strong am I?’ The truth is that humans are very resilient and we don’t need a lot of what we think we need. That’s a good thing to know.”

The story McPherson came up with as a frame for Dylan’s songs is set in a down on its luck boarding house in Bob Dylan’s actual hometown of Dultuh, Minnesota. The setting is 1934 and the Great Depression is biting hard. The play is a series of stories with an ensemble of characters whose lives and dreams intertwine through the boarding house and with the acoustic backdrop of 20 of Dylan’s songs woven through the action.

When the production opened at The Old Vic in July 2017, it won five star reviews and played to sell-out audiences. The production then transferred to the Noel Coward Theatre in the West End, winning Oliver awards for its actors and was nominated for Best New Musical. It went on to open in New York, Toronto, Australia and New Zealand. On Broadway it received seven Tony Award nominations.

As far as McPherson is concerned, the appeal is simple.

“It’s the universality of Dylan’s music, which is loved all over the world,” he says. “He manages to distill his subjective experience into something that people can relate to. It has the strange, odd contrariness of people’s real thoughts and it’s a language which allows us to transcend our normal way of thinking.”

When it came to creating the musical, McPherson had a clear aim. “We try and wrap our story around his music. Often I see them as parables from the Bible in a way, all the stories that are in the show. They are on a simple, human level, rather than being big political statements. It’s Dylan’s artistry that transforms it all into something meaningful.”

While Mcpherson is a highly regarded writer and director, his dramas The Weir and Port Authority winning him international acclaim, he had never previously directed a musical. He loved the experience.

“With a straight play you have to make it work all the way through with just the people speaking,” he says. Even with McPherson’s many plaudits, nothing was certain. He was as nervous as ever sitting in the first previews at the Old Vic. He says he ran backstage during the first interval to avoid audience chatter.

“But I found a tannoy system that relayed the good energy, the alive buzz, like a hive of bees from inside the auditorium. I knew then that we were going to be alright.”

Of course there is an audience of one who McPherson would have been desperate to hear the opinion of – Dylan.

“We’ve only ever communicated through his management and have never spoken directly. We’ve had a lovely artistic correspondence and the way we have it now works perfectly. He sent me a beautiful painting of his,” says McPherson, who praises the creative freedom the musician gave him.

“He’s such a mysterious person. He says he’s seen it (the show) a few times. I know that he saw it in New York in 2018 and spoke to our cast afterwards. That first time he snuck in and sat up the back with a hoodie on. I think he nips in and out and doesn’t make too much of a fuss.”

So, if you get to see the musical on this first UK tour – it is coming to three Yorkshire venues, starting with York Theatre Royal next month – watch out for a man in a hood at the back of the auditorium.

Girl from the North Country - Yorkshire venues

Girl From The North Country is an uplifting and universal story about family and love which boldly reimagines the legendary songs of Bob Dylan. It’s 1934 in the heartland of America and a group of wayward souls cross paths in a guesthouse. At a turning point in their lives, they realise nothing is what it seems.

York Theatre Royal, September 6-10, tickets 01904 623568. yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

Bradford Alhambra, November 29 to December 3, tickets 01274 432000. bradford-theatres.co.uk

Sheffield Lyceum, January 17-21, tickets 0114 249600. sheffieldtheatres.co.uk