Wild Rose

Wild Rose is a new musical about a woman from Glasgow who wants to sing country music for a living. It grows out of the 2018 film Wild Rose, and Nicole Taylor, who wrote that screenplay, has written the stage book herself.

New York Theatre Workshop presents the first American staging at its home in the East Village. It is a limited run with a fixed closing date, so it suits a trip planned around the calendar. The story moves between Glasgow, Scotland, and the Nashville that its heroine imagines, and its themes are motherhood, ambition and finding yourself.

Rose-Lynn Harlan has just been released from jail in Glasgow. She loves country music and wants to build a career in Nashville. Her mother, Marion, sees things differently: she would like Rose-Lynn to settle down and look after her two young children.

To pay her way, Rose-Lynn finds work as a cleaner. Her employer, Susannah, turns out to be an unexpected supporter of her ambition. The pull between a singing career far from home and the needs of her family drives the show.

The score is made of existing country songs rather than numbers written for the stage. Wynonna Judd and The Chicks are among the artists whose songs appear. So are Patty Griffin, Caitlyn Smith and Chris Stapleton. The song written for the film is part of the show too.

Sarah Travis and Davey Anderson share the orchestrations and arrangements, and Rebekah Bruce is the music director.

As of October 2026, Madeline Brewer plays Rose-Lynn Harlan, Mare Winningham plays Marion, Barrett Doss plays Susannah and Bri Sudia plays Jackie. Two roles are each shared by a pair of performers: Timea Kenny-Koncz and Ada Manie alternate as Wynonna, and Reed Epley and Jackson Parker Gill alternate as Lyle. An ensemble of singers and dancers rounds out the company.

The world premiere took place in 2025 at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. Previews started on March 6, 2025, the show opened on March 14, 2025, and the engagement ran longer than first planned, through April 19, 2025. Dawn Sievewright played Rose-Lynn in that production and Blythe Duff played Marion.

The film came first. Tom Harper directed it, Jessie Buckley starred, and its first public showing was at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018. The New York engagement is the first American staging of the stage version, with opening night set for December 14, 2026.