*** It seems that books for young people make for wonderful theater with rock music added. The Percy Jackson series written by Rick Riordan has become “The Lightning Thief”: A Percy Jackson Musical, with a book by Joe Tracz and music by Rob Rokicki. Directed by Miranda Cable with choreography by Bianca Thompson and musical direction by Jeremy Ramey, this production, now onstage at The Skokie Theatre is a love it or leave it musical. I would say that half of the almost sold out house had a blast with the story and the music, and the other half probably felt that they were too old to “get it”!

The story takes place at summer camp for Demigods. Percy ( played to perfection by P-Jay Adams), Grover ( not to be confused with the Sesame Street Grover, but a dynamic performance by Joey Prette) and Annabeth ( Isha Singh is right on) have a mission. To go on a quest ( The first act ends with a big musical number “Killer Quest”) to recover the lightning bolt of Zeus. These three performers are the key to the story and are all terrific, but once again I have to say how important the ensemble is. The six ensemble members play a multitude of roles, both good and evil with some going off as one character and coming back onstage within minutes as a different persona without a hitch.

The ensemble members are: Maddy Shilts, Anna Seibert, Patty Roache, Margaret Higgins, Kitty Phillips and Zach Moore who does an amazing Mr. D ( this character will knock your sox off) .Zach truly makes “Another Terrible Day” a show stopper that was loved by young and old. While none of the songs are tunes you will be humming on the way out of this two hour-twenty minute play ( with one intermission) the cast is composed of brilliant voices, making the songs enjoyable, even if they are somewhat unique . The music conducted by Jeremy Ramey ( on keyboard) and James Kowalczyk (drums) is solid and never overpowering. The lighting( Pat Henderson) and sound (Chris Cook) are well done. The set ( Jonathan Berg Einhorn) is not fancy, but works with the tiny stage at The Skokie Theatre. Annabella Mumma’s costumes were unique and the props (Rebecca Rose Schilsky) worked fine. This is a low budget production and when it comes to intimate theater, I prefer good acting, great singing and solid story-telling over glitz.

There are some who refer to this as “children’s” fare- I believe it to be family as it gets into family importance as well as friendship and loyalty.

“The Lightning Thief” will continue thru Jul 28, with performances as follows: