Get ready to rock

Students at Green Bay East will bring the story of Percy Jackson off the page and onto the stage next week as they prepare to open their production of The Lightning Thief — a musical based on the novel of the same name by Rick Riordan.

“The Lightning Thief follows Percy Jackson, a young 12-year-old boy who suddenly finds out that he is a demigod — half mortal and half Greek god — and he discovers that not only is he the son of the sea god Poseidon, but also that Zeus, the king of the gods, thinks that he stole his precious lightning bolt,” said Lindsay Tippins, the show’s director. “He goes on this journey with his two best friends, Annabeth and Grover, and they are trying to save Percy’s mom, clear Percy’s innocence and also figure out this new sense of self that Percy has now that he’s found out he is someone entirely different than who he thought he was.”

Those planning on attending a performance can expect an evening packed with action, music and laughs alongside a heartfelt message.

“Get ready to rock,” Tippins said. “Get ready to have a lot of fun. It is a bright show, it is a fast-paced show and it is a loud show. It has a lot of funny moments, but it has also got a lot of heart and a lot of deeply important messages about finding who you are, dealing with loss and finding a family when you might not have a biological one of your own.”

Heading into this school year, Tippins and co-director Joseph Baltus knew they wanted to do something more high-energy after last year’s production of The Little Mermaid.

“From a music perspective, I really enjoy the contrast from last year’s show…” Baltus said. “This year has a lot more driving rock and punk style and that’s been really fun to hear the kids develop their sound with.”

“We wanted to do something that was really fun and upbeat and silly because we thought it just fit perfectly with the energy of the students that we have right now,” Tippins said. “They are just such a kind and energetic group of people and they are some of the funniest people that you will ever meet.”

And while their humor has been an asset throughout the production process, cast members have enjoyed learning to portray the show’s more somber moments as well.

“It’s really fun to find the right mix of humor but also knowing when to bring it in and lock in for the serious moments,” said Danny Kime, who plays Percy Jackson in the show.

And knowing that many audience members will come into the show already familiar with the characters, the cast has also had to learn how to put their own spin on things while staying true to those characters readers have come to know and love.

“Everyone already has their own ideas of how the characters should be, but I think it’s nice that you can always find a way to incorporate a little bit of yourself into each character,” said Astro Gartzke, who plays Grover in the show.

But it’s not just the students on-stage who have been hard at work bringing the show to life.

“We’ve brought in kids from a lot of different parts of the school building,” said Lorelei Mariucci, who plays Annabeth. “We have a live pit, we had our visual arts students paint the backdrop and we have a big sound and light booth working everything on stage just to make the magic happen.”

“There is always a lot of overlap between the different strands of fine arts — in the visual strand we have a good portion of students that are also involved in the musical, show choir and the play,” read a statement from the visual arts department. “This year, it made sense to just bring those things closer together and find way for more visual art students to be involved in the musical by helping with the set and props.”

Tippins said she hopes the high level of student involvement and leadership in the show is evident when audiences enter the theater.

“Obviously there are directors and other adults that have helped out along the process, but [the students] have put the work in and it’s very apparent…” Tippins said. “They’re running everything. The amount of work that they have put in themselves, even outside of rehearsal time, really shows on stage and it is genuinely just a fun, good production to watch by any standards.”

Performances of The Lightning Thief will take place Friday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m.; and Saturday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m.

More information can be found at cur8.com/15810/project/133599.