The scene is a Depression-era guesthouse in Duluth, Minnesota, where the proprietor’s wife is succumbing to dementia and those passing through include a Bible salesman, an itinerant family and a boxer on the run.

Amid this hardscrabble existence in the 1930s Midwest, characters burst into soulful, heartbreaking songs that are familiar, yet far from obvious source material for a West End show.

Girl From The North Country, which runs at the Noel Coward Theatre until March 24, is inspired by ...