Slow Train Coming: Bob Dylan’s Girl From the North Country and Broadway's Rebirth - Hardcover

Almond, Todd

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1350407380 ISBN 13: 9781350407381

Publisher: Methuen Drama, 2025

Synopsis

"An extraordinary oral history of the making of a modern musical masterpiece." - Buzz Magazine

"Fascinating … Provides a rare insight into the very process of theatre itself." - The Irish Times

The incredible journey of a musical from potential disaster to success, and the Broadway industry that managed to stay alive during the pandemic shutdown of 2020-22.

Despite historic, seemingly insurmountable setbacks of four openings, Bob Dylan and Conor McPherson's musical Girl from the North Country became a critical Broadway hit. Hailed as an experience “as close as mortals come to heaven on earth,” by The New York Times, the musical weaves two dozen songs from the legendary catalogue of Bob Dylan into a story of Duluth during the Great Depression, to create a future American classic.

Opening on Broadway in the middle of an unprecedented moment, Slow Train Coming is a book about pressing on in the face of extreme adversity. Todd Almond's behind-the-scenes oral history weaves his personal first-hand account of starring in the show with exclusive interviews and reflections from fellow cast members and the creative team.

Together they follow the show from its beginnings at New York's Public Theater where it emerged as an underdog-of-a-show, through a fraught jump to Broadway against a backdrop of the emerging Covid-19 pandemic and the longest shutdown in Broadway history, which resulted in the theatre industry's subsequent fight for survival.

Told through personal stories, anecdotes from the cast, production shots, behind-the-scenes photos, and insights from the creators, this book is both an inside look at a perilous moment of one of America's proudest institutions, Broadway, and a true story of American grit and determination lived by the company of this quirky musical-that-could.

About this title

About the Author

Todd Almond is an acclaimed performer, songwriter, and playwright. His recent performance on Broadway in Girl from the North Country was called “stunning” by The Washington Post and “roof-raising, uplifting, and
invigorating” by Hollywood Reporter. His musical The Odyssey, for which he wrote the book, music and lyrics, was hailed as “brash, funny and heart-stirring” by The New York Times. His theater piece Kansas City Choir Boy was called “awesome, slyly punk rock” by Rolling Stone. His original musical I'm Almost There played at the Edinburgh Fringe festival and New York's Minetta Lane Theater in 2024.

Edition details

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350407380
• ISBN 13: 9781350407381
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 280