Welcome back to Musical Monday! After a brief respite, I am back to unpack yet another of my favorite musicals. This week, we’re looking at the musical adaptation of Rick Riordan’s beloved children’s book “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Lightning Thief.”
Plot
“The Lightning Thief” very closely follows the plot of the novel it’s based on, with the key differences being certain scenes cut for time or combined into one expositional musical number.
It follows 12-year-old Percy Jackson as he learns that he is a demigod — the child of a Greek god and a mortal woman — and sets off on a dangerous quest to clear his father Poseidon’s name and earn his place among the mythological community he is now a part of. He is joined on his quest by his best friend Grover Underwood, a satyr with a searcher’s license who brought Percy to camp in the first place, and Annabeth Chase, a whip-smart daughter of Athena with a chip on her shoulder.
Show History
“The Lightning Thief” was first brought to audiences 11 years ago as a one-hour off-Broadway musical in the Lucille Lortel Theatre that was then taken on a national tour as part of a Theatreworks USA free theatre series. After that, the show was reworked and expanded, featuring a new score and a second act. It opened off-Broadway on April 4, 2017, once again at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, and ran until May 6.
The off-Broadway revival cast recorded a cast recording, which was released on July 7, 2017 and catapulted the show into more of a spotlight than it had had before.
“The Lightning Thief” made it to Broadway on Oct. 16, 2019 for a limited engagement at the Longacre Theatre. The production closed on Jan. 5, 2020, with the Broadway cast slated to take the show on a national tour that never came to fruition due to COVID-19.
The show is now playing at The Other Palace in London’s West End, having opened on Nov. 23, 2024. The West End production is scheduled to close Aug. 31, 2025, unless an extension is given. This production features a few changes from previous versions, including the character Clarisse being given a verse in “The Campfire Song” and the inclusion of previously-cut song “Try,” sung by Percy, Annabeth and Grover at the start of act two.
Personal History
This musical is perhaps one of my all-time favorites to discuss my personal history with. Though I never had the chance to see the 2017 National Tour or 2019 Broadway production, I first saw “The Lightning Thief” in 2014. When the one-hour version of the show embarked on its national tour, I had a friend whose homeschool group had tickets to see the show. Her mother, who is my mom’s best friend to this day, managed to secure an extra ticket and I accompanied them to see it. I loved the “Percy Jackson” books — I still do — and was thrilled to see it as a musical. I was only 12, so I don’t remember it as clearly as I wish I did, but it is still a special experience to have had. I rediscovered the musical in 2017 when the off-Broadway cast recording came out, and it is now firmly one of the musicals that has the most special places in my heart.
Favorite Songs
“The Lightning Thief” is so far the hardest Musical Monday show to select favorite songs from. I was only able to narrow it down to four songs, which, in a show with 20 songs, is not narrowing it down much. The first song that stands out to me is “Good Kid,” sung by Percy in act one after being given his quest. It’s the musical’s version of an “I Want” song, and does a heartbreaking job of establishing that Percy is just a kid who wants to be good enough for people to care about him. Next is Annabeth’s “I Want” song, “My Grand Plan,” set in act two. In it, Annabeth tells Percy about her family history and how she strives for greatness despite the odds stacked against her. Not only is this song one of my favorites, my roommate and I are both singing it for our vocal juries this semester, without ever discussing it with each other until we learned we were both singing it.
My third standout song from “The Lightning Thief” is less of a song and more of a section of a song. It also ties directly into one of my other favorite songs from the show. The penultimate number, “Last day of Summer,” features Percy grappling with what impact his new knowledge and skills will have on his future. At the end of the song, he learns that his supposed ally Luke Castellan has actually been working against him the entire time. Luke sings a heartwrenching reprise of “Good Kid,” explaining that he wants to take down the gods because they don’t care about their children. Not only is it a return to one of my favorite songs from the show, it is an amazing representation of Luke’s thought process from the books and serves to remind audiences that he is also a kid at the end of the day.
My final favorite song is the initially cut song, “Try.” When I first heard this song, released as a bonus song by the Broadway cast, I was shocked that it had been cut. It is a beautiful depiction of Percy, Annabeth and Grover’s friendship, and has made its way onto more than one playlist I’ve made for my friends. I am thrilled that “Try” has been added back to the West End production of the show, and hope that it will one day be added to the licensed version of the show.
Favorite Fact
There are quite a few fun and silly facts about “The Lightning Thief,” but one does stand out above the rest to me. With the exception of Percy and Annabeth, the roles in the show are multi-roles, meaning one actor plays multiple characters. My favorite of these is the 2017 and 2019 productions casting the same actor as Grover and Dionysus, the Greek god who serves as the activities director for Camp Half-Blood. In the current West End production, Grover has joined Percy and Annabeth in being the only role played by their actor, but I will always look back on that piece of show history and find it entertaining.
Author: Tessa Cheshire
Photos courtesy of Jeremy Daniel
Editor: Heather Turner
arts@suunews.net
