"Penelope" at Theatre Elision

Next up in Theatre Elision's tradition of bringing us rarely done (often regional premiere) one-act musicals with a largely female cast and/or creative team is Penelope, about the long-waiting wife of Odysseus. What started as a pandemic project by singer-songwriter Alex Bechtel turned into a concept album, and then a one-woman musical with help from director Eva Steinmetz and book writer Grace McLean (who also wrote Elision's winter show In the Green, and is currently starring in Suffs on Broadway as a hilariously buffoonish President Woodrow Wilson). Penelope premiered in 2023 in New York, and here it is on the Elision Playhouse stage less than a year later. Thanks once again to Theatre Elision for finding this music-theater gem, and no one better to perform it than the luminous Christine Wade, who has been in every Elision show (and often serves as Vocal Director). She's joined on stage by a five-piece orchestra on this gorgeous score that sounds modern yet classical, telling a story of longing, waiting, loyalty, and identity. It's playing for about a month, so you have plenty of time to get to Elision Playhouse to see this new original piece of music-theater that you can't see anywhere else (unless you're planning a trip to NYC this month). 

Christine Wade as Penelope
(photo courtesy of Theatre Elision)

Everyone knows about Odysseus, the hero of the ancient epic poem The Odyssey. His wife is little more than a footnote in the story, waiting for him at home, raising their son, until his return after 20 years away fighting in the Trojan War and struggling through many obstacles on the return trip. In this show, Penelope gets to tell her side of the story. She tells it in song and direct audience address, speaking and singing into a hand-held mic, as if she's doing a pop concert (almost like SIX, but more mellow and moody). The program lists some two dozen songs, but probably about half of those are short instrumentals. It feels more like about a dozen songs, of varying styles in the singer-songwriter vein, some melancholy, some playful, some angry. In between songs Penelope talks to us about her husband, her son, the many annoying suitors hanging around her house, speaking in a modern and relatable style, and giving us an intimate look into her feelings about her husband, her life, and her current situation. 

This is Christine Wade's first solo show, but you'd never know it; she commands the stage with confidence, and has the audience in the palm of her hand. She sings beautifully, and also conveys the full range of emotion that Penelope goes through in her stationary journey. And if that's not enough, she also plays the piano on many of the songs. But of course, a one-person show is never really just one person; she's joined onstage by a five-piece orchestra (led by resident Music Director Harrison Wade on keyboard), including three strings, creating a lusher and fuller sound than I was expecting in a one-person musical. Cellist Rae Wasson also has a small but pivotal speaking and singing role.

Christine Wade (Penelope) at the piano
(photo courtesy of Theatre Elision)

The show is also beautifully staged, by director Rachel Brady. The set is dominated by a grand piano with the orchestra on one side, the floor strewn with cozy area rugs, with warm lighting that changes with the tone of the show. Christine enters alone and sits at the piano, joined by the musicians one by one. She's not always at the piano, walking across the stage to the bar (where you can get drinks before the show), singing at a mic stand, sitting companionably at one of the cabaret tables in front (which you can reserve). Then the reverse happens at the end of the piece, the musicians leave one by one, until we're left with Penelope sitting along at the piano again, almost melancholy. As if her husband's return was just a dream and she's gone back to waiting, or she's mourning the time that was lost, or maybe that "long-delayed but always expected something that we live for" didn't quite live up her idea of it, as is often the case. Maybe the living is in the waiting, and not in the found.

Penelope continues at Elision Playhouse in Crystal through August 17. No knowledge of The Odyssey is required, but if you do possess some, you might win a prize at the fun pre-show Greek trivia contest hosted by Harrison Wade. Some questions are pretty deep cuts, but just by reading to this point you know at least two of the answers.