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Non-Comprehensive List of Things I Loved About The Lightning Thief: A Percy Jackson Musical Soundtrack:

The opening with Luke, Annabeth and the campers, and the thunder and lightning in the background at the start. And of course we trust Luke because he’s the first voice we ever hear in the musical, introducing us to the premise that “The gods are real/Like, the Greek gods” just like how we instantly feel a connection with Katara in Avatar: The Last Airbender because she does the opening narration explaining the world. Before we even know that character’s name, we consider them trustworthy; after all, what he said about the gods and their kids was accurate information soon proven completely true. It sets a precedent for trustworthiness. Except Katara doesn’t turn around and try to kill Aang at the end of Book One!

The first thing Percy says is, “Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.”

The use of the chorus. When Percy says he “didn’t want to pay attention” to Greek mythology they shout, “Pay attention! Pay attention!” When he’s finally gaining confidence and declaring that he’s “good enough for someone” at the end of “Good Kid”, they chant, “Six schools in six years!” to remind him of all his past failures and rejections. In “The Last Day of Summer” they chant, “summer” frantically during Luke’s full-on villain crescendo, increasing the tension and reminding Percy that if he chooses to come back to camp next summer, this is what he’ll have to deal with. And in the final song they reprise their initial “You never listen to us, you never listen” as “We’ll make you listen to us, we’ll make you listen” to demonstrate that the campers will take a more active role in shaping their own destinies instead of letting the gods move them around like chess pieces as much as they can.

Grover outright bleats like a goat and pretends it didn’t happen.

They summed up the entire franchise as “The gods are real/And they have kids/And all those kids have ISSUES/ISSUES”. That’s it. That’s Percy Jackson.

Sally gets her own song! And it’s the Good Parenting Song! Which is perfect!

Percy’s evolving relationship with his father. From bitterly asking if he was “a screw-up too” in “Strong” to admitting that, yes, “Maybe [his] dad was a screw-up too” in “Son of Poseidon”; neither he nor his dad are perfect, and in terms of humanity (serial rapist and adulterer almost as bad as Zeus, absent father, not really a stellar brother or uncle either, complicit in the general callousness and pettiness of the gods toward mortals) the breathtakingly powerful Poseidon could very well be considered a “screw-up”. But just as Poseidon has made an effort to be decent by god standards (treating Sally with courtesy and care, offering his son words of wisdom and helpful magic items), Percy can try to be a hero for his dad’s sake, the world’s sake and his own. His heritage is an essential part of himself and he slowly lets go of his anger to accept that.

“I’ve never seen a face as beautiful as-” “You drool when you sleep.” Iconic.

“Their Sign”, especially Percy and Luke’s parts and the ending when they harmonize. Also, literally minutes after meeting him for the first time, Luke tells Percy, “If you need a friend to help figure it out…” You will be betrayed by one who calls you friend.

Annabeth vs. Clarisse set to epic rock music. Yes please! Love the little hints that Clarisse wants to fight a monster to make her father proud of her, which is why she’s so jealous that Percy did so quite impressively before he even started training.

The entirety of “The Campfire Song”. Including Percy’s quip that “If I tried to sing, I’d probably cause an avalanche” from the books was a nice touch, and is you listen carefully his singing is a more raw, unsteady and rough around the edges than in the rest of the musical, since this is the one song that’s actually a song. I love that even though it’s obvious he’s meant to sing about his godly parent and it completely doesn’t match the tone of the song, Percy’s first instinct is to honour his missing mother. Notice how Luke actively fosters the attitude that the gods are terrible and entitled and don’t deserve any respect, and their children should band together against them, throughout the song. He acts like the coolest councillor ever, everyone’s big brother, especially to Annabeth (cutting to the chorus when Percy questions her running away, a very sensitive topic for her) and Percy (encouraging him to get his feelings off his chest and cheering him on when he does)… because he wants the campers to worship him instead of the gods. It’s in “Your Sign” too. He‘s gonna make sure all the poor lost, hurt kids feel included - in Kronos’s army. But in his verse you can hear the tightness of emotion in his voice before he remembers this is not supposed to be his big gut-wrenching ballad but an upbeat crowd singalong.

Every bittersweet moment of nice, friendly, good Luke. Oh, the feels…

The entirety of “Good Kid”. Percy, no. You are so much better than you think you are. Somebody give this poor kid a hug. 😭

“I’m finally gonna pass a test”, “We’re gonna march right down to the gates of hell!” “Underworld” “Close enough”, and Annabeth’s insanely long “I’m coming on your killer queeeeeeeeesssssssssst!” from “Killer Quest”.

Every time Annabeth calls Percy “Seaweed Brain”.

“Lost” is fast-paced, really funny (“He’s very sorry. Percy, tell the squirrel you’re sorry”) and yet also heartbreaking (“Wanna run, wanna cry!”) and hammers home that these are literal twelve-year-olds left to fend for themselves against impossible odds and this whole arrangement between the gods and their children is really messed up.

The entirety of “My Grand Plan”. Specific moments include: the key actually rising in the line “You better wise up, ‘cause I’ll rise up!”; how “Then the best thing you do is run away!/Run away…” goes from stubbornly proud of her decision to sad and regretful; “Bring on any challenge!” establishing Annabeth’s fatal flaw before we’ve even heard the word hubris, and the song explaining exactly where it comes from; “And someday soon I swear/I don’t know how or when/But I promise you, I’ll never be invisible again!”. All the parallels with “Good Kid”. Both have the theme of the characters being unsure whether they’re “good enough” both have a sad, angry bridge before the final chorus listing all the ways they’ve been hurt and abandoned, both have a final chorus that starts out in a small, delicate voice coming off the tragedy of the bridge and then ending triumphantly. I can now summarize Percabeth as ‘Percy is good enough for Annabeth and Annabeth is noticed by Percy’.

“Drive”: Grover’s infectious optimistic energy throughout; the cheerful bluntness of “Stay ahead and don’t get dead and stay alive”; the line “Why, my brother and I arrived just yesterday. May first… 1939!” said by a certain dark-haired girl in a floppy hat (and in the show there’s apparently a young boy sitting on the floor next to her playing a card game). I’m sure they won’t be important later! Also, the “dam snacks” joke.

The fact that the cast is only about nine people so all the actors except Percy and possibly Annabeth play at least two roles, meaning we can hear Luke’s voice in the reprise of “The Weirdest Dream” without realizing it’s him. In particular Luke’s actor also plays Ares, which is brilliantly thematically appropriate. Grover’s actor plays Dionysus, and switches between them effortlessly.

Thalia singing in the background of “The Tree on the Hill” and “And it’s there reminding me/Of all I failed to be”. Grover, no. It wasn’t your fault. Somebody give this poor kid a hug. 😭

The reprise of the first verse of “Good Kid” in “Son of Poseidon”. This song is the turning point of Percy’s character arc. In the span of moments he goes from “Everything I try to do will fail” to “I am gonna win”. He is truly coming of age into a young hero. He started with “Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood/I didn’t to ask be a hero seeking praise” and now he’s reached “I’m the son of Poseidon/I didn’t ask to be/But I’m the son of Poseidon”. Ares reprising “Put You in Your Place” is great too, showing how this mighty, ancient god really is just a brutish, immature bully.

Every moment of Percy-Annabeth-Grover friendship, and Percabeth friendship/relationship foreshadowing.

Luke’s part of “The Last Day of Summer”, especially his reprise of “Good Kid”. Luke, no! You’re betraying your family! Somebody give this poor murderous kid an immobilizing hug! 😭😭 Also, the way the music dips into a menacing drone when the twist is made apparent, and Luke saying, “It’s time someone put them in their place”. The “put them in their place” phrase has twice been associated with cruel antagonistic characters and instantly marks him out as one, but at the same time the pronoun switch from second person to third person shows that he doesn’t have much real ill will toward Percy himself, it’s the gods he hates. And considering everything we’ve learned about the gods - considering the two previous uses of that ‘Bad Guy Alert!’ phrase have been by a thoroughly unlikeable god and his daughter trying to emulate him to impress him - who can blame him? He’s both the villain and the underdog. To the gods, that is. Not to Percy. Percy’s the underdog to everyone right now.

The entirety of “Bring on the Monsters”. Specifically: the “Don’t feel bad, ‘cause we’re usually about to die” line from the books; all the references to other songs; “Are we ever gonna once have it easy?” “Nope!”; “Bring on the monsters/Bring on the real world” because the real world is where the monsters are; Clarisse and Annabeth singing in harmony for a moment, because at the end of the day Clarisse is just another neglected child and will defend together her fellow campers to her last breath in the face of true evil, and she and Annabeth do have similarities; the overlapping harmonies at the end. Then they all fade out to Percy’s final, defiant “I’ll be back next summer/I’ll be back next summer”.

YES, GODS! THANK YOU FOR THIS MUSICAL!!!

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