“Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.”

Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief grew out of bedtime stories that the author wrote for his son, who loved Greek mythology and wanted to see heroes with ADHD and dyslexia just like himself. In its most recent incarnation, the story of Percy Jackson was adapted for the stage as part of a musical production that is currently touring Canada and the US.

My memory of reading the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is nebulous, but it must have included some version of middle-school me venturing into the more ‘mature’ section of my school library (i.e. for the high school seniors) again and again to read about Percy’s quests. After the original series ended, Riordan wrote more books, including the Heroes of Olympus series. Each year, I would read the books over and over again until the new one came out the next October, and I would go buy it at Costco because the book was 10% cheaper there than it was at Chapters.

I own both the original and sequel series, and my own copy of The Lightning Thief is so worn that the spine is held together with scotch tape. When I left for university, I thought it was impractical to bring all of these books with me across the country. Instead, I brought one copy of a spin-off, Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods, which only weighs as much as a small refrigerator.

I know the opening and last lines of the books by heart. When I started reading The Lightning Thief, both Percy and I were 12 years old—and by the time of the concluding book we were both 17. To say I was excited to go see the musical is an understatement.

I loved that the musical had the perfect vibe. It was fun and weird and quirky and just the right amount of rock-and-roll. It didn’t take itself too seriously and the jokes got a laugh from both the long-time fans like me as well as younger audience members. I understood that the musical had to edit the content for the adaptation and couldn’t include everything, but I really appreciated the small shout-outs to characters and plot points I treasured: the “dam snacks” joke, the St. Louis arch, and of course, Bianca di Angelo.

My favourite song was Annabeth’s solo: “My Grand Plan.” Musical theatre productions usually feature an “I Want” song, where the protagonist sings about their dreams and wishes (think “My Shot” from Hamilton, or “Part of Your World” from the Little Mermaid). It was absolutely lovely to see my favourite character get to sing such an important and impactful song even though she wasn’t the title character.

I have to say, though, the best part of the experience is the amount of orange Camp Half-Blood shirts in the audience. I saw so many kids there, and it was evident that many were deliberately wearing Percy’s favourite colour (blue). Although I grew up with Percy, I am so excited about how many younger readers are enjoying Riordan’s works, including his new “Rick Riordan Presents”—a project that features under-represented authors telling mythological stories from their own cultures and backgrounds.

I’m going home this summer and I can’t wait to re-read all my Percy books again.

“For once, I didn’t look back.”