(seen at the 1.30pm performance on 1st December 2024). Some actors have now left the cast.
Rick Riordan wrote “The Lightning Thief” series for his ADHD, dyslexic, book-hating 9-year-old son. It got the boy listening, and the monkey as well...
... Sometimes a single line can transform how the monkey perceives a show, and when it is explained to the show’s hero Percy Jackson (Morgan Gregory, in for absent Max Harwood) that (to paraphrase) “words fly off the page because your mind is used to reading Greek, and your ADHD are your warrior instincts and reflexes;” the monkey’s heart shattered.
Until this point in the show, the monkey, too old to have even heard of these books and not keen on Greek Mythology anyway, was slightly bewildered by it. The first 35 minutes are a glacially slow establishment of a situation in which half-blood offspring of the Gods come together at a summer camp and then go off on missions to please their absent parents.
“That” line raises a cookie-cutter off-Broadway “school set” musical into something a little more thoughtfully engaging and the show improves little by little from then on.
Gregory, and his friend Grover (Scott Folan) are endearingly nerdy enough to carry a friendship for over two hours. Nobody can fault Gregory’s voice for improving as his late take-over of the role must have left him nervously exposed. Folan, with the rest of the cast, gave him the generous support he required, and they all flourished.
Notable performances include Jessica Lee as deadly Annabeth, Greg Barnett as a teacher with concealed furry depths and Joe Allen scene stealing as camp – manager, not Clary-type - Mr D.
To the first-time ear, the tunes occasionally land strongly, “Put You In Their Place” and “The Campfire Song” forming the best of the interludes.
For the most part, the rest of the show is somewhat disorganised. Scenes jump with little or no explanation, songs sometimes appearing without being required – a lengthy “Tina Turner” tribute for Samantha Mbolekwa as Charon fun but adding nothing, plus a rather limp “Rent” tribute” opening the second half, to name but two.
Still, it is less stylishly melancholic than “Hadestown” and it enthralled the very young fans. Two next to the monkey were 11 and 8, both so entranced that they seemed to forget to breathe. It also features a moody squirrel who should, but won’t, win an Olivier Award, and simple but outstandingly strong magic illusions designed by Richard Pinner.
With director Lizzi Gee keeping the pace if not lightning quick, at least fizzing, and Ryan Dawson Laight, Carlie Moran Jones, Dominic Bilkey and Duncan McLean using the nifty tricks of design, light, sound and projection to take us across America on the surface and below, this is a decent alternative to panto for the winter season.
