The Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh will host the world premiere of Wild Rose in March
The tear-jerking tale of a troubled young country music singer desperate to leave Scotland behind for the bright lights of Nashville has already won the hearts of cinema goers around the world.
Now Dawn Sievewright is preparing to step into the cowboy boots of Rose-Lynn Harlan, the character at the heart of one of Scotland’s next big stage musicals.
The star of hit Scottish musicals including No Love Songs, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour and Glasgow Girls will play the lead role in Wild Rose, which is being adapted from the movie of the same name.
She will be following Oscar-nominated actress and singer Jessie Buckley in playing the fresh-out-of jail single mother juggling a cleaning job with her musical ambitions.
The Glasgow-set show, which launches at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh in March, will feature the songs of country stars Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Wynonna Judd, Chris Stapleton, Caitlyn Smith, The Chicks and Patty Griffin, as well Oscar-nominated anthem “Glasgow” from the BAFTA Scotland-winning film.
The stage show will combine the talents of writer Nicole Taylor, who is adapting her award-winning screenplay after turning David Nicholls’ best-selling novel One Day into a hit Netflix series, and John Tiffany, the director of hit stage shows Once, Black Watch, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
The Glasgow-born actress said: “I saw Wild Rose at the cinema when it came out and absolutely loved it. I was beyond excited as soon as I heard about it. It was incredibly funny, the music was beautiful and the performances were fantastic.
“But it really got that sense of Glasgow, where you are laughing one minute and thinking you’re going to burst out greeting the next minute. I think outsiders sometimes see Glasgow as a place of doom and gloom, but it also has such heart and a real sense of community.
“People I know came out of the cinema feeling really elated and proud that Wild Rose had come out of Glasgow. I felt like I really knew Rose-Lynn.”
Ms Sievewright, 37, who was brought up in Bishopbriggs, said she had not come across a character that spoke so perfectly to the world she grew up in.
She said: “When she comes out of jail, you can tell she’s full of life and joy. She’s raucous, a bit of a joker and a wildcard who gets herself into trouble. But she also has two young children.
“Wild Rose is about the solid love she has for country music and her dream of going to Nashville to sing with the pull of her responsibilities at home, which she’s never really taken seriously. Her journey is about whether you should put yourself first to fulfil your own dreams. There’s this really beautiful bedlam in her trying to figure out what she should do.”
Ms Sievewright has been announced in the role after starring in last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe hit No Long Songs, a musical inspired by the real-life experiences of The View singer Kyle Falconer and his partner Laura Wilde.
She said: “I don’t really think that we make razzle-dazzle musicals in Scotland. They always feel like they’re really rooted in the music and the story. They have a different tone to them. They’re almost like when someone gets a guitar out in a pub lock-in or sitting at a campfire.”
Ms Sievewright said the musical version of Wild Rose would closely follow the storyline of the film, which was partly shot at Glasgow’s Grand Ole Opry Club and Old Fruitmarket venues.
She added: “I did a couple days of work recently with the band who will be in the show to sing through all the songs, which was really really cool, as the musicians in this are incredibly talented.
“You might have a band in the pit or behind you onstage in a musical, but in Wild Rose they’re going to be properly integrated into the show. The music is at the beating heart of Wild Rose. It’s woven through the story at all times.
“It isn’t just going to be for people who want to come and see musicals or plays. It’s going to be for gig-lovers and the real deep-rooted country fans. They’re going to love it.”