A new production at the Lyric Stage in Boston is telling the story of “The Odyssey” in a way you’ve never seen before. In the musical “Penelope,” audiences finally get to hear Odysseus’ wife’s side of the story.
“She’s kind of a footnote in the Odyssey. So putting her front and center and telling her point of view about what’s going on is really interesting and exciting,” said actor Aimee Doherty, who portrays the title character.
“What is universal is that moment where we’ve all had to say, this is not the future I wanted, this is not the future I expected,” said producing artistic director Courtney O’Connor. “How do I move forward?”
O’Connor jumped at the chance to stage this musical.
“We love origin stories. We love hearing suddenly this other person’s point of view on something. It’s the same story, but it is from someone else’s point of view. And that only enriches and deepens that original story for us.”
While it is a one-woman show, Doherty said it may be a bit different from what you might expect.
“I am not alone on stage. I have a beautiful big orchestra behind me,” Doherty said.
Music director Dan Rodriguez said, “It’s almost structured more like a concert where Penelope is just hanging out with the band, singing her thoughts.”
And the band interacts with Penelope throughout the production.
“To see (Dan) and Aimee working on the music, it’s not just another character in the show. The music is the show,” O’Connor said,.
“The music is beautiful,” Doherty added. “It’s like a pop rock instead of musical theater, which is interesting and challenging for me to do.”
“It takes elements from all these different genres and weaves them together into something, I think pretty special,” Rogriguez said.
You can see “Penelope” at the Lyric Stage in Boston through March 1st.