Cast Recordings & AlbumsJay Records to Record Recent Off-Broadway Musical Penelope, or How The Odyssey Was Really Written
The York Theatre Company presented Peter Kellogg and Stephen Weiner's new musical.
By
Andrew Gans
May 12, 2022
Jacob Simon, David LaMarr, Britney Nicole Simpson, Sean Thompson, and George Slotin
Carol Rosegg
The York Theatre Company production of Penelope, or How The Odyssey Was Really Written, which played Off-Broadway's The Theater at St. Jean's in April, will get an original Off-Broadway cast recording thanks to Jay Records.
The original cast will be heard on the recording, including Britney Nicole Simpson (Beauty and the Beast) as Penelope, Philippe Arroyo (Aladdin) as Telemachus, Leah Hocking (Billy Elliot) as Eurycleia, Cooper Howell (Emojiland) as Antinous, Ben Jacoby (Beautiful) as Odysseus, David LaMarr (Jersey Boys) as Mileter, Jacob Alexander Simon (A Chorus Line) as Bassanio, George Slotin (High Button Shoes) as Haius, Sean Thompson (Sunset Boulevard) as Barius, and Maria Wirries (Dear Evan Hansen) as Daphne.
Tony nominee Peter Kellogg (Anna Karenina) wrote the book and lyrics with music by Stephen Weiner (The Rivals). The new musical reimagines The Odyssey by focusing on Odysseus' wife Penelope and the letters she writes to herself in a scheme to fake correspondence with her husband, who is away due to the Trojan War.
Emily Maltby directed and choreographed the production. The recording will have orchestrations and musical direction by David Hancock Turner. A release date will be announced at a later time.
Jay has previously recorded 22 cast albums for Off-Broadway's York.
Composer Tom Kitt is revisiting the 2009 release, featuring Alice Ripley, Aaron Tveit, and more, to mark the Pulitzer-winning musical's 15th anniversary.
Set in the Roaring '20s, the musical follows eccentric millionaire Jay Gatsby, who will stop at nothing in his tragic pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman whom he loved in his youth.