Coleytown Company Presents “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical”

Coleytown+Company+Presents+The+Lightning+Thief%3A+The+Percy+Jackson+Musical

Sarah Lyle, Staff Writer, Chief Book Reviewer and Editor

On Friday, March 31st, Coleytown Company presented “The Lightning Thief” based on the well-known book series by Rick Riordan. Coleytown Middle School was one of the first schools in the nation to perform it under the direction of the school’s devoted and talented director, Mr. Ben Frimmer. The show was first introduced off-Broadway in 2014 quickly gained popularity and finally reached Broadway for a 16-week limited run. Coleytown Company had the great honor of being one of the first schools in the nation to perform it, and it could not have been brought alive without our school’s devoted and talented director, Ben Frimmer.

The Coleytown performance involved students as both cast and crew. The cast comprised 60 student actors from grades six, seventh and eighth graders. Denver Razza, Lyla McEntee, and Joey Vasquez played the three main roles: Percy Jackson, Annabeth, and Grover. The story takes place in the current day when Percy gets attacked by a substitute teacher on a school trip. Ms. Dodds (Chanze Freemon) turns into a monster and tries to kill Percy!  Luckily, Percy is okay, because his teacher, Mr. Brunner (Teddy Brooks) shows up just in time to give him a sword…. what? This event shocks Percy, who is used to his relatively everyday life.  Except for one odd thing… Percy has never met his father. As he goes on a journey and learns who he truly is, he will learn of a whole new world.

The student crew members also played important roles and were responsible for set changes, curtains, and lighting. The students could work with theater professionals specializing in set design and dance. Former CMS art teacher, Mrs. Kangro, even returned to help with the sets this year!

The curtain went up for the first time on Friday, 3/31, and the show went on to play three more times that weekend.

Congratulations to all members and leaders of Coleytown Company for this magical experience!