The Lightning Thief – The Percy Jackson Musical
Newcastle Theatre Royal – 27th August 2025
Review by Stephen Stokoe
I often say on my radio show that they can make musicals out of anything these days. And it is true. Revengeful hairdressers, superhero evangelists, and high school spelling competitions have all had the musical theatre treatment over the years. For this light hearted and entertaining musical it is the turn of Greek gods, their off-spring and various other mythical creatures to sing and dance across the stage.
The premise of the show, the movies, and the recent television series is that the gods never went away. They are now hidden in plain sight within various suburbs and metropolitans of America. Still waging their battles on each other and playing a kind of deity pawn with their children and humans in general. The story itself is not difficult to follow but it does help if you have a knowledge of Greek mythology although there is a helpful guide provided in the programme.
First we meet our hero, the sub-titular Percy (Vasco Emauz) who is, on the face of it, a sub-standard and trouble-prone high school kid who has been excluded from several schools and is about to be again from his current one. I was very interested to see how they would transfer this part of the story onto the stage because in the book it involved demonic winged creatures and a harrowing attack by a monstrous minotaur. With some inventive costuming (Ryan Dawson Laight) for the math teacher/furie and a multi-cast wrangling of a multi-part puppet (directed by Laura Cubitt) this was most satisfactorily delivered with gasps and whoops from the audience.
We then meet Percy’s mam, Sally (Simone Robinson) who is living a humdrum life with layabout and phenomenally smelly husband Gabe Ugliano (Aidan Cutler) but we soon learn that she harbours secrets of her own. I am not being rude in saying that Gabe is olfactorily offensive as it is crucial to the story – but you will have to take my word for that.
Percy is then packed off to demi-god summer camp where he is joined by Annabeth (Kayna Montecillo), Luke (Paolo McAllef) and reunited with school buddy, Grover (Cahir O’Neill) who, it turns out, is a satyr (half human-half goat) which he probably should have told Percy sooner and saved him a lot of time. It is here we also meet Mr D, who hates kids and is played masterfully comedic by Aidan Cutler. Percy is then assigned a task which he is not keen to do but with the carrot of saving his minotaur mauled mother from the depths of the underworld, sets out heroically ably assisted by Annabeth and Grover to find out who stole a lightning bolt from Zeus, the rather bad-tempered and supreme ruler of the gods.
To say that this cast are hard-working would be an understatement. Aside from the three intrepid questors, the rest of the cast are all multi cast and perform their many roles while manipulating various items of set to where they need to be on the stage at any given moment. The set (Ryan Dawson Laight) is impressive but cannot be mentioned without talking about the stunning lighting design (Tim Deiling) and the impressive video design (Matt Powell) because it is the combination of all three that make it work so effectively. There are some very clever directorial choices from Lizzi Gee which keep the story moving relentlessly and also provide some magic when characters need to be one place while seemingly in another simultaneously.
The music is directed by Will Joy and depite having a band only numbering four (Adam ‘Twenny’ Sheffield on drums, Jordy Rowlands and Matthew Stanley on guitar and melodica, and Ali McMath on bass, produced a sound that was appropriate and thrilling. Being a relatively new musical (music by Rob Rokicki), the songs are, as yet, not particularly well known, but I really enjoyed The Campfire Song in Act I and Last Day of Summer and Bring on the Monsters in Act II. There is some immense vocal talent on show in this production with superb harmonies and the sound (Dan Samson) was well balanced and clear.
There is a lovely message within the story which touches on those who may be neurologically diverse and a sense of place and belonging for people who think they don’t fit in. The quote that remains with me is ‘The things that make you different are the things that make you strong’ which I think everyone will agree is a lovely sentiment.
Adapted from the book by Rick Riordan, Joe Tracz has taken the essence of the story and, with a very talented and hard-working cast and creatives, The Lightning Thief is a fantastic and exciting romp with thrills, spills, special effects and some catchy music that everyone can enjoy. The beautifully choreographed finale is a joy to behold.
I have not awarded a star of the show for a while and I am going to rectify that now. Everyone in this cast deserves applause but for making me smile from the moment he walked onto the stage, for his comedy timing, his singing and his dramatic pathos in ‘The Tree on the Hill’ and for metaphorically holding the audience’s hand as all manner of ghastly gods and mythical creatures threatened, I award my star to Cahir O’Neill as the sentimental, sensitive and soulful satyr.
The whole cast are clearly thoroughly enjoying their time in The Lightning Thief – The Percy Jackson Musical and it shows. Brush up on your gods and monsters and pack your kids into the car for a magical and mythical saga at Newcastle Theatre Royal this summer.