Grace McLean is an American actress, playwright, composer and singer. She is known for her roles in various

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

productions such as ''

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 ''Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812'' (or simply ''The Great Comet'') is a sung-through musical adaptation of a 70-page segment from Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel ''War and Peace'' written by composer/lyricist Dave Malloy and directed by Rache ...

'', ''Bad Cinderella'', '' Bedbugs'', ''

Alice by Heart ''Alice by Heart'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Duncan Sheik, lyrics by Steven Sater, and a book by Sater with Jessie Nelson (filmmaker), Jessie Nelson. The musical is inspired by Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel ''Alice's Adventures in Wo ...

'', and '' In The Green'', the latter of which she wrote and orchestrated. She is also known for her work as a music educator and for fronting the band Grace McLean and Them Apples.

Early life

McLean graduated from the

Orange County School of the Arts Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA, ), is a 7th–12th grade public charter school located in downtown Santa Ana, California. The school caters to middle and high school students with talents in the performing, visual, literary arts, cul ...

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...

in 2002.

Career

Theatre

In 2013, McLean starred as Marya Dmitriyevna in the original

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

production in

Dave Malloy Dave Malloy (born January 4, 1976) is an American composer, playwright, lyricist, and actor. He has written several theatrical works, often based on classic works of literature. They include ''Moby-Dick'', an adaptation of Herman Melville's cla ...

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...

rock opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...

''. She later reprised this role in the 2015

American Repertory Theatre The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is a professional not-for-profit theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1979 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to ne ...

and 2016

productions, as well as on both of the show's official cast recordings. In 2017, McLean was named one of

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

's writers-in-residence, allowing her free rein of office space and materials to create original theatre works. Them Apples had previously performed in both the 2015 and 2016 Lincoln Center American Songbook series. In 2019 McLean starred in the new Off-Broadway musical ''

'' based on ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a ...

'' as The Queen of Hearts, Red Cross Nurse, and Magpie. Also in 2019, McLean wrote the book, music, lyrics, and orchestrations for ''In the Green'', a new musical about the life of eleventh century

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

christian mystic Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation f the personfor, the consciousness of, and the effect of ..a direct and transformative presence of God" ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, and

polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...

Hildegard von Bingen Hildegard of Bingen (german: Hildegard von Bingen; la, Hildegardis Bingensis; 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher ...

. McLean also plays

Jutta von Sponheim Countess Jutta von Sponheim (22 December 1091 – 1136) was the youngest of four noblewomen who were born into affluent surroundings in what is currently the Rhineland-Palatinate. She was the daughter of Count Stephen of Spanheim. Jutta, instead ...

, Hildegard's mentor and fellow prisoner. The show opened on June 4

's LCT3 Theatre and closed on August 14, 2019. The show was nominated for 6 awards at the 2020

Lucille Lortel Award The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...

including Outstanding Musical, and McLean winning for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical. The original cast recording was released on October 16, 2020 through

Ghostlight Records Sh-K-Boom Records is an independent record label and producer of recorded and live entertainment, which was founded in 2000 by Kurt Deutsch with the mission of bridging the gap between pop music and theater. In 2004 Sh-K-Boom created their second ...

. On December 8, 2022 it was announced that McLean would be originating the role of The Queen in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ''

Bad Cinderella ''Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella'' is a stage musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by David Zippel, and a book by Emerald Fennell. Loosely adapted from the classic story of the same name, plot changes include recast gender relatio ...

'' on Broadway. She played the role until the show’s closing on June 4th 2023.

Music

Her voice has been described as "a flexible instrument with unexpected reserves of power". She is also noted for her use of

loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...

s, creating layers of sound, turning her solo voice into a full rhythm section. Her band, Grace McLean & Them Apples (which consists of her, Hiroyuki Matsuura, and

Justin Goldner Justin Goldner is an American music producer, songwriter, arranger and session musician based in New York City, originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His performances have been featured on Grammy, Latin Grammy and Tony award-winning projects ...

), incorporates a myriad of styles including

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

, hip-hop,

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, and

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

In 2015 and 2016 the band toured Russia and Pakistan as ambassadors for the U.S. State Department. The band have released two extended plays, ''Make Me Breakfast'' in 2012 and ''Natural Disaster'' in 2016. In April 2023, McLean announced a record deal with Meridian/ECR Music Group to release her debut full-length album, with the first single, "Reckless", released on May 23, 2023. She also voiced Madame Sunshine in the musical podcast ''The Fall of the House of Sunshine''.

Theatre credits

Music releases

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McLean, Grace Living people American musical theatre composers American musical theatre actresses American women dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights American musical theatre lyricists American women singer-songwriters Voice teachers 21st-century American actresses 1984 births