The Lightning Thief
Opening Night: October 16, 2019
Closing: January 5, 2020
Theater: Longacre Theatre
The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical “is a blast – and that’s no myth! It has something for everybody!” (Boston Globe) With “one foot in Harry Potter and another in Dear Evan Hansen” (Chicago Tribune) this “winning adaptation” (Hollywood Reporter) of the best-selling Disney-Hyperion novel by Rick Riordan is “electrifying!” (Newsday) and “hits the sweet spot!” (Wall Street Journal) As a son of Poseidon, Percy Jackson has newly discovered powers he can’t control, monsters on his trail, and is on a quest to find Zeus’ lightning bolt to prevent a war between the Greek gods. Featuring a thrilling original rock score, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical is “a spectacularly fun adventure that will thrill everyone in the family!” (Chicago Parent)
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October 16, 2019
If Percy Jackson’s bright and lively Broadway adventure tosses a bit of deja vu your way, I’d guess the creeping sense of vague recall has little to do with that gang of Greek gods down the block belting out tunes from Hadestown, and even less to do with Percy’s plodding 2010 film. I’d smell a Squip. Sharing some of its creative team (director Stephen Brackett, book writer Joe Tracz, sound designer Ryan Rumery and the witty, inventive and sadly final wig and make-up creations of Dave Bova, who died in May at 41) with Broadway’s recent (and brighter and livelier) Be More Chill, the newly arrived The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, can seem like a warm-up for that musical.
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October 16, 2019
“It’s a lot to take in right now,” says Percy Jackson, the teen hero of “The Lightning Thief,” the kid-centric fantasy musical (based on the popular Y.A. novel) that’s now on Broadway after touring the country and playing an Off Broadway run. You could say that’s a bit of an understatement from contemporary teen Percy (Chris McCarrell), who discovers he’s the spawn of a Greek god — literally. But he’s not exactly sure which god. And, oh, by the way, Zeus’s lightning bolt has been stolen and the gods are pissed because they think Percy took it and a battalion of monsters, minotaurs and furies are hot on his heels. But first he has to deal with some mean kids at summer camp.
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October 16, 2019
Here’s an idea for a Broadway musical: An awkward boy with an absent father and an overwhelmed mother gets involved with friends in a dubious scheme that spins out of control and almost undoes him. Is it “Dear Evan Hansen”? If only. Alas, “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” is a pale patch on the earlier show and a failed attempt to board the teenage fantasy-angst train. (See also: “Be More Chill” and, more successfully, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”) Based on the popular 2005 novel by Rick Riordan, it is both overblown and underproduced, filled with sentiments it can’t support and effects it can’t pull off.
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October 16, 2019
Ah, to be Percy Jackson, a middle-schooler in the throes of a fantastical quest! Sure beats worrying about how many views your Snapchat story got. He might not get the prestige ink long commanded by Harry Potter and his celeb crew, but author Rick Riordan’s 12-year-old Percy is, in fact, a rock star among the portion of the tween set that can actually still put down their phones and read. Percy’s thing is that he is half-mortal and half a deity (and Donald J. Trump says, “welcome to the club, Percy”). And the kids love him (Percy, not Trump) because he is so relatable and Evan Hansen-angsty, a lovable outsider, neither fish nor fowl, always ready with an intense ballad, forever trying to come home. Just like Frankie Valli.
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October 16, 2019
When I reviewed the 2017 off-Broadway production of the musical version of the first book in Rick Riordan’s bestselling YA fantasy novel series, I gave it a rave. Calling it a “winning adaptation” that “thoroughly charms,” I predicted that the show geared for children would find much success on the regional theater circuit. Mea culpa. The show’s producers apparently took my review, and many other favorable notices, too much to heart. Arriving on Broadway following a national tour for a limited run (timed to the upcoming holiday season, natch), The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical has lost all of its charms while gaining a dramatic uptick in ticket prices. What seemed inventive and clever in the confines of a small off-Broadway theater feels utterly wan in its current incarnation. The production represents glorified children’s theater, only with seats going for as much as $199. Any parents who shell out that kind of money for this tacky, bargain-basement production seriously need to reevaluate their financial priorities.
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