20 January 2023

Lyceum

Tonight we went to see the double Olivier and Tony award-winning West End and Broadway hit show "Girl From The North Country" at Sheffield's Lyceum Theatre. Our daughter Frances had given me the tickets as a birthday gift last October.

Created by celebrated playwright Conor McPherson, the show boldly reimagines some of the legendary songs of the great Bob Dylan - weaving them into an emotionally touching and universal story about family and love, hailed by "The Observer" as the "No.1 theatre show of the year".

It’s 1934 in the heartland of America - Duluth in fact -and there we meet a group of wayward souls who cross paths in a time-weathered guesthouse. Arriving at a turning point in their lives, they realise nothing is quite what it seems. But as they search for a future, and sanctuary from the past, they find themselves facing challenging truths about the present.

The singers were all very competent and it was refreshing to hear stylish re-interpretations of some of Dylan's most noteworthy songs including "Forever Young", "I Want You" and "Idiot Wind". Surprisingly, the plaintive song "Girl From The North Country"  which appeared on the album "Nashville Skyline" did not feature. in the musical. I was slightly disappointed about that.

We both enjoyed it but were not truly knocked out as we were two weeks ago when we  went into town to see "Standing At The Sky's Edge" in The Crucible.  After the show we made a quick exit through a side door and then jumped straight on a Number 82 bus.  Back at Banner Cross, we even had time to nip into "The Itchy Pig"  for post-theatre drinks.

23 comments:

  1. It's nice to be able to go out again I imagine. The Itchy Pig doesn't sound like a sanitary place for a pint.

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    1. It's a nice little micropub. It will only hold about thirty people at most.

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  2. I'm not a Dylan fan so I would pass on this one. I would love to hit "The Itchy Pig" though. The name makes me giggle!

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    1. The beer would also make you giggle Margaret plus my bar-room wit and repartee.

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    2. A nice amber ale or two would certainly make me happy and I do think you seem witty from what I read here. You would appear even wittier and more clever after those two beers. :)

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  3. Ye must have seen me staring at you in The Itchy Pig.
    I was the tall man with piercing blue eyes and the rumbling Scotch-Irish basso.
    *Bobby Dylan,* said I, shooing foam off me pint of porter.
    *Sure he was only ever Woody Guthrie's echo. A flat echo at that.*
    I winked at Shirley but she had only eyes for yourself, such is a good woman's love.

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    1. You never know, she might have fancied a bit of rough.

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    2. I am an old Calvinist gentleman. Shirley is a lady with class.
      *John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara - Interview.* YouTube.
      I have been likened to the Duke in my day. I talk real slow.

      John Ford's film The Quiet Man, in which the Duke and Miss O'Hara starred, was based on a story by Irish writer Maurice Walsh.
      I am reading a biography of Walsh by Steve Matheson.
      Like yourself Walsh was a great man for the outdoors and a great friend of the Scottish Neil Gunn.

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  4. Interesting how they string a number of songs together and weave a story around.

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    1. You've got it though I don't know which came first - the story or the songs.

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  5. As we say after seeing or doing something that we thought was average, it was an outing, and that's not a bad thing.

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    1. We were in the stalls and lucky that the two seats in front of us were unoccupied so we had a clear view of the stage.

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  6. Unlikely the show will ever make it here, but as I'm not a Dillon fan, I shan't feel I'm missing anything.
    The name "Itchy Pig" makes me laugh too!

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    1. Not a Dylan fan? I am surprised. I have admired his lyricism since I was thirteen and first heard him.

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  7. Love Haggerty‘s comment! The white-haired woman sitting next to Haggerty, nursing her pint of Strongbow‘s, observing the other patrons, occasionally smiling at a witty remark, was me.
    I am not familiar enough with Dylan‘s songs to imagine the musical, but the entirely night out sounds enjoyable.

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    1. Has Haggerty ensnared you? He's like that big hairy spider in The Little Miss Muffet nursery rhyme.

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  8. YP said to the barmaid in the Itchy Pig: "It may be the Devil or it may be the Lord. But you're gonna have to serve somebody". Sounds like a good musical.

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    1. That's a clever Dylan reference Dave!

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  9. Northsider made me laugh.
    Sounds like a fine evening!

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  10. So was the show done in a Minnesota accent? Could you understand all that was said (or sung)?

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  11. I can't believe they didn't use the song! That's false advertising! I saw a show on Broadway about 15 years ago using Dylan's music -- I can't even remember the title, and it wasn't that good.

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  12. The Itchy Pig! Now that sounds like a place I could enjoy. Are you buying?

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  13. A fine evening out by the sound of it. I'd like to see photos of The Itchy Pig interior and exterior.

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