Earlier this year, we took Lydia to watch the musical adaptation of one of her favourite books, Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief. It’s the first book in his Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and also the first book in his broader fictional and mythological universe. I introduced her to the Percy Jackson books when she finished the Harry Potter series, and Lydia has devoured every book Rick has written since that first read through of The Lightning Thief (and is very excited that he has returned to his original trio of characters with his latest books).
The Lightning Thief has famously been adapted into a film that is not very faithful (one that Rick had nothing to do with, and hasn’t bothered watching), and more recently and much more faithfully into a Disney+ series, which Rick was heavily involved in. This musical version of the story was definitely closer to the tv series than the film on the faithfulness scale, despite having to compress a 377 page novel into a ~2 hour minute musical.
The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical is currently at The Other Palace on an extended run until August of this year, before it embarks on a UK tour. Originally scheduled to end in January, this is a well deserved continuation of the musical’s first UK professional production – the three of us really enjoyed the show & have been listening to the score at home ever since.
We saw the show before the cast change happened (when the show was extended), but we actually went to a performance when Morgan Gregory – the current Percy and previous ensemble/swing cast member – was covering the main role. He was absolutely fantastic and I’m sure he is continuing to do the story and songs justice as he continues in the role. Honestly, after seeing his performance Lydia and I agreed we were very happy he had the part that day – Morgan had done such a great job it was hard to imagine anyone else in the role.
The show is full of toe tapping songs that keep the story moving along without leaving anything too important out. Percy and the other principcal characters (Grover & Annabeth) are introduced in the first act, with his arrival at Camp Half Blood, the discovery of the identity of his godly parent, and then setting the stage for the quest to begin in act two.
In the book, their journey across the country on their ‘Killer Quest’ is long and filled with adventures & challenges. This is well portrayed in a relatively short amount of time, especially in the song Drive which touches on their encounters at the gateway arch, hoover dam & lotus hotel, as well as their run in with Ares – all within a few minutes of song!
Some songs were full of feeling without slowing the pace of the story too much – The Tree On The Hill in particular is so sad & tells the backstory of Grover, Annabeth, Luke & Thalia in a way that makes your heart bleed a little for the satyr. Good Kid conveys Percy’s struggle with being accepted for who he is, as he just tries to do his best and seemingly fails every time.
The various secondary characters were in the show enough that you knew who they were for the story to make sense, while keeping the focus on Percy & his friends’ journeys – and not just their physical ones, but their emotional ones too. Mr D in particular was a delight, complaining about Peter Johnson and having Another Terrible Day at Camp Half Blood.
A great mix of wonderful set design, lighting, visual effects and clever props help to bring the show to life. They manage to transport the audience into the wonderful modern yet mythical universe that Rick has created in his books to tell Percy’s story on stage.
Overall we really enjoyed the show and definitely recommend it to Rick Riordan fans of all ages – as well as anyone who might like a good fun musical about a bit of a weird kid who is just trying to find his place in the world!
