Based on the 2005 book by Rick Riordan. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is a well-renowned story featuring the adventure of the titular character, Percy Jackson, going on a journey to recover Zeus’ Lightning Bolt. The series would become well-renowned by many and would soon lead to many adaptations. But the adaptation that I’m here to talk about is the Musical Adaptation.

Originally premiering in 2014, the production was met with pretty high praise. Then, at the beginning of the 2025-2026 Friends Academy school year. It was announced that the winter show would be a production of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Thursday, February 5, 2026; The Lightning Thief premiered to the Friends Academy audience. With a run of three days, the cast and crew had a spectacular time performing on stage an adaptation of a well-beloved book series. But in this article, you will be receiving many insights into how some of the cast and crew felt about putting on this spectacular performance. 

FA’s own Mr. Geha came up with the idea to do The Lightning Thief in “late spring, early summer” of 2025. His reasons being that he likes to consider ‘Who are the most likely students to audition?’, ‘What stories do we want to represent?’, and ‘Where we are in our community.’ Last year was a lot more severe, so we’re looking for more fun and energetic.” 

New to the Friends Academy faculty and this year’s director was Ms. Myers, who happened to be the director of the musical. She described her experience by saying that she felt “honored to be able to work with a wide range of students. Especially with this being my first year. Half of the cast is made up of ninth graders, and since I’m a ninth grade advisor, it feels nice to watch them grow and make connections. And it’s been fun watching the rest of the cast make connections with each other. So it’s been nice to see the friendships they’ve made.”

Many of the cast would also express their joy with working on the musical when asked about how they felt about it the week before opening night. Kody Mitchell (the actor of Percy Jackson) would state that it was “a really fun musical. It’s very interesting and there are a lot of tech moments that we worked really hard on.” Jackson Yu (the suit actor of the Minotaur) would state: “It’s pretty interesting. Everything’s coming together and everyone’s working hard to make it interesting.” Bradley Zak (the suit actor of DJ Cerberus) would state that working on the musical was “Very fun, I enjoy working with the cast members, Mr. Geha, and Ms Myers.”

So in conclusion, it is safe to say that Friends Academy’s take on The Lightning Thief was a delightful experience for the cast, crew, and audience.

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