PENELOPE Limited Run Starring Grace McLean is Coming to Classic Stage Company

Classic Stage Company has added Penelope to CSC's 2026-2027 season. A contemporary musical retelling of Homer's The Odyssey from the perspective of Odysseus' wife, Penelope stars multi-hyphenate actress-singer-writer Grace McLean (Suffs; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812). The award-winning show features music and lyrics by Alex Bechtel and a book by Alex Bechtel, Grace McLean & Eva Steinmetz, and is directed by Eva Steinmetz. Alex Bechtel (piano) and four to-be-announced musicians will join McLean on stage as a musical Greek chorus.

This special two-week engagement will run Thursday, December 10 through Sunday, December 20 only at CSC's Lynn F. Angelson Theater. Additional creative team will be announced at a later date.

Penelope waited twenty years for Odysseus to return from the Trojan War. Now she's ready to share her side of the story...but she's going to need a drink first. Starring Broadway's Grace McLean, this contemporary chamber musical brings one of history's greatest epics to life through a Richard Rodgers Award-winning folk-pop score. Sharp, funny, and unexpectedly moving - this is Penelope's Odyssey.

Penelope premiered at Hudson Valley Shakespeare in 2023, followed by acclaimed productions at Signature Theatre in Washington, DC (2024) and Theatre Horizon in association with Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (2025). In 2025, the first full production starring McLean played at The Ancram Center in New York. Penelope: Live from Joe's Pub was recently released by Joy Machine Records and is now streaming on Spotify and all listening platforms.