“The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” came to the mainstage at the Hopkins Center for the Arts on April 11 and runs through May 11. Written by Joe Tracz and with music composed by Rob Rokicki, it is adapted from Rick Riordan’s 2005 novel The Lightning Thief. Stages Theatre Company produced the musical, which was directed by Sandy Boren-Barrett.
I remembered reading the original Lightning Thief novel back in 7th grade, and I was interested in how the plot would embrace the structure of a musical here. One thing I knew going into watching it was that its target audience was children and young teenagers. I wasn’t included in its main demographic. Therefore, my expectations weren’t too high and I reasoned that I was willing to overlook some shortfalls in the production, choreography, or any other aspect of the performance. And, after watching, I think that reasoning still stands.
The plot itself was mostly a synopsized version of the 2005 novel, cut down to fit the musical’s 70-minute runtime. Given the length of the original book, inevitably, it would be a tall task to make the pace seem natural and even. But sometimes it was jarring how quickly one scene changed from the next. It also gave little time to properly connect audiences to secondary characters and give them enough detail. They seemed to just “pop in” and “pop out” at certain points for the sake of appearance, not necessarily because they needed to be there.
The way the musical used props, set pieces, and costumes was resourceful and creative. One unique costume was the centaur’s, Chiron, which achieved the effect of a half-horse by connecting a rear horse costume to a pair of pants that acted as the front horse’s legs. However, I could tell that the amount of props the musical had access to was limited. Where they did use props, they were used in clever, sparing ways, such as a wooden frame serving as a “portal” to the Underworld. But it would have been more engaging to see the stage background change with the start of a new scene or environment, as well as the addition of more props, in order to make the stage feel actually dynamic beyond lighting changes.
An occasional problem was the singing, which at certain points was quiet enough to be drowned out by the musical scores. At other times, the singing was too high and maxed out the microphone. Singers struggled with some notes and it either led to a piercing sound or otherwise brought me out of the music. Other than that, the singing was capable. Additionally, the music was not live, which was unfortunate because it would have heightened the experience.
The acting and choreography had a few missteps, but still, each actor held their own. Everyone was trying to bring some personality to their character, and that especially showed for more quirky characters like Percy’s father, Poseidon, clad in a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses, or Medusa. One thing that puzzled me was the combination of adult and child casting. It was unusual to see grown cast members interacting with others as if they were younger, somewhat taking me out of the realism of a scene or character interaction.
Overall, “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” had some rough-around-the-edges elements, which brought down the immersion and flow of the performance, but it wasn’t anything that impaired it completely. It still brought the spirit of The Lightning Thief to life. I think many of the hiccups are from the limitations of the resources available to this sort of production, and I’d imagine the adult-oriented “The Lightning Thief” Broadway musical, on which it’s based off has the staff and practice to make this show more professional.
“The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical:” ★★★★☆
