The Lightning Thief - The Percy Jackson Musical

Amidst a changing trend across children’s fiction, in 2005 Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief hit shelves and caught the imaginations of a generation. And that’s no exaggeration – within the series’ first decade on shelves, it had seen over 20 million copies sold worldwide.

For the uninitiated, the conceit is a familiar one; Percy Jackson is, one way or another, the chosen one. Stuck in a cycle of feeling somehow othered from those around him, his world is flipped on its head when it’s revealed that he is a half-blood – an in-universe title meaning that one of his parents is a god (though, crucially, he doesn’t know which god yet…) This sees Percy sent to Camp Half-Blood where, along with Annabeth (daughter of Athena) and Grover (chosen one of Pan, with the goat legs to prove it), his life becomes a series of increasingly high-stakes quests across all of his formative years, spanning seven books total.

But we can leave six of those on the shelf. The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical follows Percy and friends only through the first year of their time together, from Camp Half-Blood to the depths of hell and back again. The best place to start is probably to say that this musical is a big win for the fans. For this reviewer, the Percy Jackson series was a very important part of my childhood, and a habit I’ve not been able to shake in my adult years either. Seeing Percy, Annabeth, and Grover brought to life on stage by the brilliant leading trio (Vasco Emauz, Kayna Montecillo, and Cahar O’Neill, respectively) felt like a testament to the staying power of Riordan’s timeless story, and a love letter to the fans who have kept the series alive over decades now.

Emauz, Montecillo and O’Neill make light work of it, too – each getting emotional beats and vocal moments to really draw the audience in. Special mentions have to go to Percy’s Good Kid, Annabeth’s My Grand Plan, Grover’s The Tree on the Hill, and the trio’s Try for their emotional punch, and to the trio’s Drive for its sheer fun. It’s an easy show to let yourself fall into for two hours – and, for the highs and lows it reaches emotionally, by the time you’re tapping your feet to The Last Day of Summer at the end, it feels like a warm hug.

This is the West End staging of Percy Jackson, which sees the story set on an industrial, abstract stage, which allows it to be a blank canvas for moments of travel and transformation. We watch as the set becomes a bus, a forest, a museum – even a minotaur. Bringing the fantasy of Riordan’s universe to stage is no small ask, and what the creative team have done with such a mammoth task must be commended – especially thanks to moments of ingenious lighting and projection. And while it’s not a spectacle show by any means, sparing and intentional use of illusions effectively tie all of that together.

If you’re a fan of Percy Jackson, watching this show will feel like being reunited with old friends. It’s one for the fans, and a fantastic fantasy universe to introduce little ones to as well. I promise you won’t regret it, even if you can’t escape at the end without buying a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt.

Review by Aaron Cawood

Cast

VASCO EMAUZ - Percy Jackson

KAYNA MONTECILLO - Annabeth

CAHIR O’NEILL - Grover

JOSEPH CONNOR - Mr D and others

ELLIE-GRACE COUSINS - Clarisse and others

PAOLO MICALLEF - Luke and others

SIMONE ROBINSON - Sally Jackson and others

NIALL SHEEHY - Mr Brunner and others

ALEX ANDERTON - Ensemble/Swing

ABE ARMITAGE - Ensemble/Swing

ELLOUISE DELOOZE - Ensemble/Swing

BECCA FRANCIS - Ensemble/Swing

AMY McEVOY - Ensemble/Swing

Creative team

Book by - Joe Tracz 

Music & Lyrics - Rob Rokicki 

Director & Choreographer - Lizzi Gee

Set & Costume Designer - Ryan Dawson Laight

Lighting Designer - Tim Deiling

Sound Designer - Dan Samson

Video Designer - Matt Powell

Orchestrations - Wiley Deweese & Rob Rokicki

Musical Supervisor - Jeremy Wootton

Musical Director - Will Joy

Illusionist - Richard Pinner