The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical - a half-baked quest

★★

Just as Rick Riordan's novels act as a gateway for young readers to enter the world of fantasy, the stage show has surely struck a chord with future theatregoers.

Photo of the tour, provided uncredited

Lines of tweens snake around the curve of the theatre foyer for merch, matching in their orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirts. They're here, presumably, because our story's hero, Percy Jackson, the unknowing demigod sent out on a quest to stop a war between the gods, has struck a chord. The New York teen himself (played here by a brilliant Vasco Emauz) constantly reaffirms the fact that he has been expelled six times, and is struggling with living with ADHD and his stinking step-father, while worrying about his lonely mother. Rob Rokicki's score is needlessly full to the rafters with wordy kid rock songs about daddy issues (expected, when you're the son of Poseidon), but Emauz gives as much swagger as he can muster in his baggy blue jeans and saggy zip-up hoodie. Much to the fans' delight.

The set design (Ryan Dawson Laight), in tandem with the lighting (Tim Deiling) and video (Matt Powell), provides a stadium feel. Ramps ripped straight out of a skate park outline the underworld, with exposed bulbs and gutter pipes. Its industrial concrete provides an excellent canvas for video projections of rocky waves, fiery pits and starry nights. Disguised by metal mesh, the band, directed by Will Joy, sits at the top level, providing keys, drums, guitar and bass to the tunes, but sadly they're a fleeting zap of electricity before the next tune quickly starts and erases all memory of that prior.

There are some snazzy effects - illusionist Richard Pinner has made pens transform into swords and has certainly got his money's worth out of a bubble machine. A puppet Minotaur crafted by Laura Cubitt impresses, only to be let down by useless stick puppets later on. So, the real magic is in Lisa Connell's fight direction. A large ensemble of campers full of camaraderie use all of the playing space - Kayna Montecillo gives attitude to Annabeth, a scorned, neglected child, while Cahir O'Neill's goofy Grover is a great sidekick. Watching over them is Danny Beard's Mr D, a frazzled Miss Hannigan-esque figure, embodying Dionysus.

This is where The Lightning Thief is on the cusp of something wonderful. The Gods have a faint whiff of bygone eras about them - Hades, a 70s glam rock icon, and Poseidon, a stoner surfer. Ferryman Charon at Dead on Arrival is a disco diva introducing Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain. Joe Tracz has attempted to pad out some of the book by picking fun at New Jersey before referencing Peter Andre, an awful mismatch that is totally unaware of its audience.

Ultimately, Lizzy Gee's direction is rushed, and the pacing is off, making the quest over and done with in 40-odd minutes. Instead, it's a look at the programme for a potted history of Greek Gods. On the subject of Half-Bloods, this production feels rather half-baked.