Singer/songwriter Grace McLean has a deliciously eclectic style that sees her combining elements from jazz, folk, musical theatre and pop. In songs like “Natural Disaster”, which she performs with her band (Grace McLean & Them Apples) she sounds like a playful Fiona Apple doing Sondheim, and number to number she uses different genres and styles to come up with a sound that for all its references is unmistakably Grace McLean. Grace will be performing at the Greenwich House on May 5, where she will showcase numbers from In the Green: Hildegard Von Bingen, an opera she’s working on about the life of 11th century mystic Saint Hildegarde. She told us a little bit about this ambitious work and her upcoming Broadway turn in Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.

What made you become so fascinated by Saint Hildegarde?

I've always been a casual medievalist and studied medieval art in college. That was actually my first encounter with Hildegard, through her art. She had these very intense, crippling, apocalyptic visions and detailed them in illuminated manuscripts. Her images are like nothing else that was being produced at the time, full of an intensely personal symbology. And then later when I started doing more research on her, I found out that all of her work, while living within the basic structure of the medieval Catholic European world, stems from a deeply individual space. She stands out not only for being a woman who produced so much lasting work, but as an individual. She is one of the earliest entrepreneurial individuals in the West.

How do you decide on what musical style to use to bring to life someone from the 11th century? Were you inspired by Hildegarde's own compositions?

Hildegard is known for her forward thinking, and again highly individual, compositions so her music (and words) are definitely influential in the way I'm writing this piece. And I'm trying to let the liberties she took with music and her inventiveness influence the way I approach my music. I'm wary of bringing too predictable in a song and am always looking for ways subvert the listeners expectations, while still taking them on a sonic journey.

You're not shy about highlighting the artists who have influenced you, do you wish others are inspired by your work and explore the lives/work of people like Saint Hildegarde and J.D. Salinger?

Yes! I hope people look Hildegard up and learn about some of what she accomplished in her lifetime. I think her ability to give a booming voice to her idiosyncrasies in a time  when the culture would have otherwise suppressed them is truly inspirational.

Congrats on the Broadway transfer of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, will it be easy to slip back into the skin of Marya D. after all this time?

Thank you! I'm very excited to get back into Marya's skin, and it won't have been so long - I did the run at A.R.T. in the fall, after all. But I'm really grateful to be making my Broadway debut in a show that means a lot to me personally, and in a role that I helped create.

The Off-Broadway production was very intimate, what excites you the most about bringing this piece to Broadway?

I think the space actually helps us tell the story better than ever. We are still able to retain moments of intimacy by playing in and among the crowd, but I think the audience will take in and follow more of the relationships and twists and turns without having to turn their necks every few seconds.

What are your three dream roles in any Stephen Sondheim musical? What are your three favorite Sondheim songs?

Dream roles: Charlotte Malcolm in A Little Night Music, Dot in Sunday in the Park with George, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd.
Songs: “Is There a Parade in Town” from Anyone Can Whistle, “Johanna” from Sweeney, and “Ladies Who Lunch” from Company.

For tickets to Uncharted: Grace McLean click here. For more on Grace, visit her official website.