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THE LIGHTNING THIEF: THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL

★★★

The Other Palace

THE LIGHTNING THIEF: THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL

The Other Palace

★★★

“Impressively staged, it is indeed truly fantastical.”

What started out as a bedtime story for his nine-year-old son quickly evolved into a global publishing phenomenon that outstripped the writer Rick Riordan’s dreams. A five-book series of fantasy novels was followed by two feature films, a television series and video game. In an age where you can’t turn a stone without finding a musical under it, this was the natural next step. Joe Tracz is behind the book, while Rob Rokicki has adapted Riordan’s take on the Greek myths with a high energy bolt of musical lightning, that struck Broadway in 2020 and is now lighting up London’s stage.

“The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical”, for those who don’t know (and I didn’t… I must have been living under that upturned stone), is a reimagined mash-up of the Greek myths, crash landed in the twenty-first century. Percy Jackson, a bit of a misfit who has a habit of being expelled from school, discovers he is the ‘half-blood’ son for Poseidon. While reluctantly attending a summer camp for demigods, he quickly finds himself on a dangerous quest to locate and bring back Zeus’s lost Master Bolt. Teaming up with fellow demigods, Grover and Annabeth, they go on all sorts of adventures, escaping hellhounds, furies, lotus-eaters and narrative logic. Naturally Percy returns a hero (that’s no spoiler) with the lightning bolt intact and a soaring tune full of well-worn messages.

Despite some genuinely funny moments, it takes itself rather seriously in a teen kind of way. The opening number drums into us that ‘The Gods Are Real’ without any apparent irony, as though we should be taking notes. Being normal is the real myth here. The things that make you different are the things that make you strong (read that sentence like you’re belting a rock anthem, and you get the picture). The musical numbers are delivered throughout in a storm of pizzazz, the volume turned up high and, although many numbers blend into another, the tunes have enough snap, crackle and pop to become catchy earworms. Director and choreographer, Lizzi Gee, keeps the pace fast and furious while the cast crank up the fun-factor to feverish levels.

Morgan Gregory gives a well-balanced mix of nerdiness and fearlessness to the hapless hero, Percy Jackson. Vocally cutting through the bombast of the band he skilfully takes us on his epic journey with him. Lizzy-Rose Esin-Kelly is a gutsy Annabeth, the daughter of Athena while Angus Benstead’s Grover is a nervous satyr. There is much multi-rolling within the ensemble cast, and many costume changes. Caricature invariably displaces nuance, but amid the chaos Paisley Billing, as Percy’s mother (among other characters) smooths and softens the action with her controlled performance and expressive, velvet voice.

But for the most part, there is a cartoon quality to the production in which grating tones and shouty voices dominate. It is as though our attention span is assumed to be low, with the rapid-fire, episodic progression of events that whisk us through Percy’s quest as he runs up against Gods and Monsters in equal measure. We end up feeling a little giddy but can’t really complain as it’s nothing compared to what the performers must be feeling. A whirlwind of a show, that tosses its plotlines into the tornado with so much abandon that we lose track and ultimately cease to care. Visually it is a treat, and it probably helps to be familiar with Riordan’s novels. Impressively staged, it is indeed truly fantastical. With clearer storytelling, more light and shade and more respect for the mythology, it could also be fantastic.



THE LIGHTNING THIEF: THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL

The Other Palace

Reviewed on 22nd March 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Manuel Harlan

 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

HOMO ALONE | ★★★ | December 2024
JULIE: THE MUSICAL | ★★½ | June 2024
CRUEL INTENTIONS: THE 90s MUSICAL | ★★★★ | January 2024
A VERY VERY BAD CINDERELLA | ★★★★ | December 2023
TROMPE L’OEIL | ★★★ | September 2023
DOM – THE PLAY | ★★★★ | February 2023
GHOSTED – ANOTHER F**KING CHRISTMAS CAROL | ★★★★★ | December 2022
GLORY RIDE | ★★★ | November 2022
MILLENNIALS | ★★★ | July 2022

 

THE LIGHTNING THIEF

THE LIGHTNING THIEF

THE LIGHTNING THIEF

Be Prepared – 4 Stars

Prepared

Be Prepared

The Vaults

Reviewed – 7th February 2018

★★★★

“a movingly cathartic piece of theatre”

 

Darkly entertaining, ‘Be Prepared’ is a compassionate, stirring one-man performance by Ian Bonar as Tom, caught up in a chaos of mixed emotions as he randomly becomes involved in the life and death of a complete stranger, Mr Chambers. More than simply an observation of the entropic nature of life, it is a heart-rending comment on the profound effect a chance event can have. Inspired by the death of his father and amalgamating personal recollections, his grandfather’s treasured memoires and his imagination, Ian and fellow collaborator, Rob Watt, create a character who skips restlessly between remembering and forgetting. From an entanglement of someone he only knows through incoherent phone conversations, he takes us on the journey of his own grief. It is a sincere description of bewilderment as he is confronted by his many conflicting feelings, from the shock of loss to the banality of choosing a coffin. The result is a movingly cathartic piece of theatre.

In the depths and darkness of the Vaults Theatre we are transported into Tom’s confusion with creative use of lighting (Charlie Morgan Jones and Nick Harvey) which cleverly adds intensity and drama to his shifting thoughts. The entrancing, abstract sound by Alex Crispin blends curiously well with the rumbling of the trains overhead and Rob Watt’s artful direction offers the audience a sensitive yet provocative production. The intensity does wear off slightly, however, towards the second half of the show when the script becomes faintly dishevelled, resulting in a mixture of rambling, theatrically-portrayed memories as the two strangers help each other remember those they are forgetting.

Ian Bonar has worked in television, film and theatre. As a playwright he opens himself up to the possibilities of a different path of expression and ‘Be Prepared’ seems to expose something he needs to talk about. He connects immediately with the audience both as actor and writer, luring us into his world to share his personal interpretation of a subject common to all of us and which we rarely divulge with others. He mesmerises the audience and implores sympathy with unabashed earnestness. It is humorous but tastefully balanced, showing the uncontrolled hysteria which takes over in such life-changing moments.

When grief hits, it unplugs a multitude of sensations which bring disorder and distress. The nonsensical picture of life leaves us floundering and leads to a search for meaning. ‘Be Prepared’ is sad, funny, reflective and impassioned, awakening in us a bitter sweet response to an inevitable part of life.

 

Reviewed by Joanna Hetherington 

Photography by The Other Richard

 


Be Prepared

Vaults Theatre until 11th February

 

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