Review: THE LIGHTNING THIEF at Adventure Theatre

Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief was published in 2005 and exploded in popularity, sparking a massive franchise and countless other books, and creating a shift in middle grade culture toward ancient mythologies and pantheons much to the delight of many a social studies teacher. After a middling film adaptation from Chris Columbus in 2007, a one-hour TYA production premiered in New York with a book by Joe Tracz, and music and lyrics by Rob Rokicki. Adventure Theatre premiered their production of The Lightning Thief with direction by Adventure Theatre's Artistic Director, Kurt Boehm, on June 27th, and the show runs through August 17th. 

The show centers around Percy Jackson (Jeremy Crawford), a middle schooler in New York with a history of expulsions and getting into trouble. He has ADHD and dyslexia, which makes school a struggle for him and causes myriad other forms of friction. He lives with his mom and "stinky stepdad," and knows little to nothing about his biological father. The show opens with him, his Best Friend Grover (Jordan Essex), and their class on a field trip to the MET. Everything is seemingly normal until Percy is attacked by a Fury and given a magic pen that turns into a sword by his teacher, Mr. Brunner (Christian Montgomery). Percy fights off the Fury, but no one else seems to have seen it. As a matter of fact, Percy is inexplicably expelled for some sort of outburst. He returns to his mom, Sally (Cayla Hall), who decides to take him to a camp where he will be safe. Percy is confused but goes along with it; however, on the way to camp, they are intercepted by Grover, who appears with goat legs and is revealed to be a satyr, who frantically tells them that a minotaur is after them. Percy is able to fight off the minotaur, but in the process, his mother is killed. 

The pace of the show is wildly fast. Everything detailed above happens within probably 10-15 minutes over the course of a few songs. It makes sense for the younger target demographic and the short run-time, but for more seasoned audience members, or even those familiar with the source text, it can feel a bit whiplash-y. It also steamrolls many emotional beats—Percy barely has time to think about his mother's death before he is introduced to Camp Half-Blood, a camp/home for kids who are half mortal, half-god—Greek god. Percy takes in all this new information—he doesn't know his dad because he's a God, he's dyslexic because his brain is "hard-wired for ancient Greek," and has ADD because he has inherited battlefield instincts. This whole new world is explained to him by Grover, Dionysus (also Essex), and Mr. Brunner, who is actually a centaur. 

He meets Luke, a friendly mentor and son of Hermes, who shows him the ropes, Annabeth, a tough and quick-thinking daughter of Athena, as well as Clarisse (Caroline Graham), a fierce and intimidating daughter of Ares. Percy is then revealed to be a son of Poseidon, which is, apparently, actually bad, because the "Big 3" gods (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) aren't supposed to have children. More drama is introduced when it's revealed that the Gods are on the verge of war. Hades has stolen Zeus' lightning bolt to start a war. A seer gives Percy a quest/prophecy. That he will go to the underworld, retrieve the bolt, be betrayed by a friend, and fail his quest. Percy does not want to go on his quest until he realizes his mother is in the underworld, and that he could potentially rescue her. He sets out to reach the underworld (which is under Los Angeles) and is accompanied by Grover, his Best Friend, and Annabeth, who wants in on the quest, as she's long yearned for one of her own. 

And so the three set out on their adventure, encountering monsters, Gods, and interpersonal teenage drama. They eventually learn that Hades was framed, and not at fault at all, and that Ares, the God of war (Bartlebaugh), is orchestrating the conflict in order to cause a massive war. Through some quick thinking and action on Percy's part, Percy is able to resolve the conflict and save his mother in the process, only to be eventually betrayed by Luke. Bartlebaugh does a lot with his relatively shorter stage time. His Ares is funny and colorful, and his Luke is infinitely likeable and cool, which makes the drama so great when he turns out to be quite evil. And while all performances were indicative of clear talent on the part of the actor, Harper's Annabeth did a notable job balancing out the more frenetic roles of Percy and Grover with a layered and at times reflective performance. 

The source material has long been praised and celebrated for its neurodivergent representation, giving children with similar conditions to Percy a chance to see their disabilities as part of what makes them unique, and even as strengths to be proud of. In the song "Strong," the line "normal is a myth" is sung, delivering one of the show's main messages– there is no default, normal, or proper way to be, to have a family, or to be a person. You can be the child of a Greek god, have hooves instead of feet, or just be a little different; we are all unique. This message was further represented when the gang meets Hades (played by Montgomery), who sported a beard, a long black skirt, platform heel boots, and a crop top. The performance and costume design (Bailey Hammett-Colwell) was unabashedly queer, and though Hades did not have a lot of stage time, it was exciting to see Adventure Theatre slip in a moment of queer fun in a TYA show, especially in the contemporary climate. This representation of characters, all different in thoughts, looks, and abilities, is a great springboard for discourse between young audience members and their parents. 

Due to the show's swift pace, other themes/issues weren't able to be focused on as much. Throughout the show, Percy laments about not having his father around growing up—a very heavy yet common topic for children. Percy has complicated feelings of resentment, rejection, and confusion about his parentage, and when he actually does meet his father, Poseidon (also Montgomery), he tells Percy that the Gods don't interfere as much in their children's lives as to allow them to make their own decisions. It's not the fault of Adventure, but the script that this line is a bizarre, almost a cop-out on these issues that, if one were to investigate, almost casually permits absentee parenting. It certainly doesn't bear heavily on the show, as, due to the aforementioned pace, we move on from things very quickly, but it is sure to make certain adult theater-goers pause for a moment.  

The show features moments of fun and clever visual design. When the gang is on its way to the underworld, they take multiple buses/cars, etc. These vehicles were all represented through one set piece that looks cohesive with the set (Megan Holden), which featured lots of scaffolding-esque levels. The "vehicle" set piece was on wheels and had pull-down seats. It was cleverly designed, and very satisfying to watch the actors interact with it. Another moment of ingenuity came during a scene when Percy summoned a great gush of water from a seashell. A leafblower, or something similar, was covered and painted to look like a seashell. There was a long length of multicolored blue fabric that flowed with the air blown from the seashell/leaf blower, and the effect was very fun and resourceful. On the topic of nautical visual elements, there was a fabric feature at the top of the play space that worked wonderfully to evoke water (and clouds!) with the lights (designed by Lynn Joslin). This ever-evolving aquamrine motif was continued onto the floor painting, which was a beautiful and fluid blue scene. 

Moving from the visual to the sonic realm, the cast sounded great. There were many a sweeping belt from Crawford or Essex at the climax of a song that was beautiful and exciting. The music itself was fine. No one song in particular stood out, or was particularly memorable, at least to adult viewers, to no fault of the cast, who, as stated, were a pleasure to listen to and the reason why the music, though middling in its composition, was highly enjoyable. 

The show was well suited for its target demographic (7+) in terms of pace, theme/message, and humor. The show was quite funny, mostly for younger ones, but there were more than a handful of moments when even the adults and parents in the room were genuinely laughing. It's a perfect show for young ones, especially those interested in Greek mythology, or those who are othered by convention. It's also a great way to encourage reading. Those with young ones who enjoyed the show can happily inform them that there is a whole series, and multiple spin-offs following Percy and the fantastic world he lives in. Those, however, familiar with the source text may be sad to see that a very large portion of the book is skipped over, understandably so.

The Lightning Thief is exciting. It's got dancing, action, decapitation, and a lot of great characters. It's certainly a great summer outing for families, and one that hopefully instills an important and pertinent message. The show runs through August 17th and features an ASL interpreted performance on July 19th.

Photo credits to Alan Kayanan. 

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