National Tour NewsChris McCarrell Will Reprise Title Role in National Tour of The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson MusicalThe traveling production will kick off at Chicago’s Ford Center for the Performing Arts.
By
Andrew Gans
August 20, 2018
Chris McCarrell
Jeremy Daniels
Chris McCarrell, who created the role of Percy Jackson in the Off-Broadway production of The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, will reprise the role for the show's national tour, which launches in Chicago in January 2019.
In a statement, McCarrell said, “I've never been done with Percy. Even during our closing night Off-Broadway, I knew it wasn't my last time playing him. To me, Percy symbolizes my scattered youth, the seemingly aloof boy who adults rarely seemed to get. Percy is the rock star who came out of that. I always said it would take a special show for me to pack up and tour, and TheLightningThief is just that. It blew up while we were in New York and too few half-bloods were able to see it.”
Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
The Lightning Thief has a Drama Desk-nominated book by Joe Tracz, music and lyrics by Rob Rokicki, direction by Stephen Brackett, and choreography by Patrick McCollum, with set design by Lee Savage, costume design by Sydney Maresca, Obie Award-winning sound design by Ryan Rumery, lighting design by David Lander, fight direction by Rod Kinter, and orchestrations by Wiley DeWeese and Rob Rokicki.
The musical debuted in 2017 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, where it played an acclaimed, extended run and was nominated for three Drama Desk Awards. The story follows a young man who discovers he is the son of gods, and suddenly has powers he can't control.
IMcCarrell (Les Miserables, Peter Pan Live, The OA) starred Off-Broadway alongside Carrie Compere, James Hayden Rodriguez, Sarah Beth Pfeifer, Jonathan Raviv, current Be More Chill star George Salazar, and Kristin Stokes.
The upcoming tour is produced by is produced by TheaterWorksUSA, Martian Entertainment, Greg Schaffert, Lang Entertainment Group, Lisa Chanel, Jennifer Doyle and Roy Lennox, Neil Gobioff, Glass Half Full Productions, Hummel/Greene and in partnership with The Road Company. The production is presented by special arrangement with Rick Riordan and the Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency.
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