The son of Poseidon is making a splash on Broadway!
Based on the 2005 Rick Riordan novel, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical will call the Longacre Theatre its home following a 32-week North American tour, according to Deadline.
The original production of the musical debuted Off-Broadway back in 2017 at the Lucille Lortel Theater in New York City.
Announced by producers TheaterWorksUSA and Martian Entertainment, Lightning Thief follows Percy Jackson, a son of Poseidon, and the newly discovered powers he can’t control, with monsters on his trail as he is on a quest to find Zeus’ lightning bolt and prevent a war between the Greek gods. The musical features an original rock score, with an onstage company of seven playing more than 47 characters.
Fantasy novels have certainly found their way into the theatre before, most famously with Wicked and most recently with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, but how do you do that without the gigantic budgets of either? Maria Paz Alegre’s review of the Off-Broadway production via TheatreIsEasy.com offers an amusing example:
Director Stephen Brackett creates a playful world, evoking elements of children’s theater complete with cartoonishly creepy puppets and a motorcycle made of a flood light and handlebars. The audience is particularly delighted to be TP’d by toilet paper rolls streaming wildly from powerful leaf blowers, designed to symbolize Poseidon’s great waves of water.
Love it. The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical will begin showing previews September 20th, with a limited engagement run starting October 16th.
