Between reading the books and watching the movie, Percy Jackson is nostalgic for many. Students had the opportunity to experience the series in another way by watching Hackley’s student Musical, The Lightning Thief.
Each spring, students in Hackley’s Musical Theatre class perform to the Hackley community, showcasing their talents and the skills they have learned throughout the year on stage. This year, the musical opened to the Hackley community on March 6th, with two more performances the following two days in the new Center for Creative Arts and Technology (CCAT).
The extremely talented cast featured senior Alex Booth as Percy Jackson and sophomore Lilly Rosenthal as Annabeth Chase, as well as students Ada Chalfy, Mariana Dushas, Finn Fisher, Arya Gauba, Farah Goods, and Asher Navas.
The various choreography work and fighting scenes throughout the show drew many rounds of applause from the packed crowd.
While the musical serves as a culmination of the student’s progress throughout the course, the true grit of the course starts many months earlier. Starting from the first day in September, students work on not just the musical’s script and scenes, but also on different challenges and tasks to further enrich their acting skills as well as set them up for success later in their Hackley careers, if they elect to continue the course.
“Musical theater is such a wonderful opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and this cast of brilliant people fostered such a loving environment that I felt confident even when I messed up to lean into my faults and make them part of the musical,” said sophomore Lilly Rosenthal.
With the introduction of the new black box theatre and woodshop space in the CCAT, the performing arts department was able to make a custom built set that looked as if it was taken straight out of ancient Rome, with extremely detailed rock walls, stages, steps, and columns.
The Lightning Thief followed an adapted premise from the Percy Jackson novels, primarily Rick Riordan’s introductory installment of the seven in the series. The tale of Percy Jackson, a half-blood, follows the journey to find and recover Zeus’s powerful lightning bolt in an attempt to restore order among the Greek gods, with failure and wrath of Mount Olympus on the line.
Many in the audience felt that the show brought them back to when they were younger, reading Percy Jackson, particularly Andre McMahon, stating how “the musical was nostalgic for me, and brought me back to my childhood reading the Percy Jackson books.”
The two-hour show was filled with plenty of applause from the audience, with Friday’s show having such a large showing among the Lower School students that Mrs. Candelora had to find extra seats to be able to seat everyone. Each night also featured a giveaway for the winner of a ‘loudest cheer competition’ to kick off the night, with the winner taking home their own Hackley musical theatre t-shirt. The audience in the end left satisfied, stunned at the exceptional performance by the actors, and excited for next year’s performance, whatever that may be.
“I thought that the actors were very professional and put on a wonderful performance, with drama, action, and a lot of energy,” sophomore Miya Lauher said.
