National Youth Music Theatre – Lightning Boy

Picture: Pamela Raith

Lightning Boy was performed in the Patrick Studio, Birmingham Hippodrome.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

National Youth Music Theatre really is having a fantastic summer of productions, and the successes just keep on coming. Not content with delivering a great adaptation of Fame and following that up with the wonderful Tuck Everlasting, the company is bringing the goods yet again with Lightning Boy. An original musical, this world premiere has ‘Olympian’ ambitions and looks well on its way to achieving them (it’s already performed at West End Live to an enthusiastic crowd of musical theatre fans who know a good musical when they hear one).

Teenager Zeus (played by Toby Mocrei), working in the Sky High Diner on Mount Olympus alongside the other gods, faces both personal political oppression from his Titan leader father Cronos (Freddie Tickle). Zeus is favoured by Cronos to be his successor, causing resentment between his brothers Hades (Quentin Ballard) and Poseidon (Joseph Firth).

Zeus dreams of a simpler easier life, one which he hopes will include the mortal Io (Lizzie Wells), who was rescued by the gods as an abandoned baby. Cronos has other ideas for Zeus’ future, and puts on a festival to celebrate his ‘Golden Age’, including a plan to marry Zeus off to the young Hera (Amy-Pearl Watt) to strengthen his own political position.  When Zeus refuses and is banished, heartbreak and social unrest whip up into a storm that only Zeus himself can undo.

Fans of the Percy Jackson franchise will find a lot to enjoy here. As Wicked is to The Wizard Of Oz, Lightning Boy is almost an unofficial prequel to Percy’s adventures, showing what his father (Poseidon) might have been like at his age and suggesting how he and his uncles may have grown into the gods they became.

Liv Warden’s book has a lot of fun exploring all of the different personalities of the teenage gods, although a certain amount of pre-existing knowledge may be useful to some, as the exposition initially comes at a rapid-fire pace.

Once that calms, there are some lovely relationships and moments between the young gods, as they face the same adolescent fears and insecurities as the rest of us, just with more on their shoulders. The juxtaposition to the mortal Io is also nicely handled, and having her strong female voice in the mix helps the balance, which can feel too weighted towards the males. While obviously they naturally dominate the story, other strong females around them feel somewhat underused and could be explored further.

Charlie Turner’s score is a pop-rock mix with more hits than misses, eclectic enough to not all sound too samey and to illustrate the different personality types of the gods (contrast Hades’ dark tortured ‘God Awful’ to Poseidon’s ‘Come On In’ where Elvis meets George Michael brilliantly). There are a handful of less memorable songs which fade fairly quickly but overall it’s a really solid effort, brought to life by a sizeable orchestra led by Lee Freeman.

Director Kate Golledge really captures the sense of future potential with a sharp and fast-paced production that zips along and gives no sense of it being in its infancy as a production. This was further evidenced when the sound system suffered a minor bit of stagefright on press night, but the assured cast took it all in their stride and weren’t thrown by it in the slightest, which is no easy task for such young performers.

This is a show full of personality and fire, packed with energy and charisma, sold yet further by some impressive choreography (Aimee Leigh) which is delivered effortlessly by its talented ensemble.

Once again with the NYMT we’re in the company of future superstars, and Lightning Boy really is no different. While there are no weak links in this strong ensemble, some of the leads give particularly standout performances.

Having already impressed in The Boy in the Dress, Toby Mocrei does a brilliant job of leading the show, having the lion’s share of the scenes and dialogue and making it look easy, giving plenty of likeable charm.

Vocal chops go to Ballard who belts ‘God Awful’ like he’s already in the West End, as does Wells who handles Io’s ballads with skill and a knack for storytelling. For charisma and stage presence, Joseph Firth is one to watch, clearly born for the stage and gives us a bisexual ‘party boy’ Poseidon who is an absolute joy to watch.

We’re all for new original musicals, and for Lightning Boy to be as good as it is so early in its journey is wonderful to see. There is real potential here and it will undoubtedly go on to even bigger and better things.

Rob Bartley