"Penelope" by Theatre Elision at Elision Playhouse

It's such a joy to revisit a good show after a period time. As an audience member, but also, I imagine, as an artist too. Theatre Elision staged the new one-woman (and five-musician) musical Penelope last summer, just a year after it premiered in New York. They're remounting it this summer for just two weekends at their home Elision Playhouse in Crystal. If you missed it last summer, you really must see it this year; like most of Theatre Elision's work, it's a musical you can't see anywhere else. And if you did see it last year, you might find deeper meaning and understanding this year, as I did. Penelope really is a gem of a musical, and Christine Wade is even more at home in the role than she was last year (a performance that earned her a Twin Cities Theater Blogger Award nomination). The show is just 70 minutes long, preceded by a bit of Greek trivia, in an intimate welcoming space with concessions. It has more of a concert vibe than a traditional musical, so it's great for music lovers as well as musical theater fans. Just five shows remain - make your Penelope plans now!

"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).