Trivia / The Lightning Thief

• Acting for Two: A tradition based in pragmatism with the musical, given its shoestring roots. The actors playing Percy and Annabeth are the only ones not acting for two. Doubles (and triples, quadruples, etc.) include:
  • The actor playing Grover also playing Mr. D.
  • The actress playing Clarisse also playing Thalia and Katie Gardner, and voicing various musicians in "DOA".
  • The actor playing Luke also playing Ares, the Minotaur, and Smelly Gabe, making him all of the major antagonists besides Kronos, who doesn't physically appear. This one does double duty, being financially pragmatic and serving the plot. When audiences hear Luke's voice discussing plans for the lightning bolt with Kronos in "The Weirdest Dream (Reprise)", they're likely to go Occam if they recognize him and assume it's just the actor in a different role.
  • The actress playing Sally also playing Silena Beauregard, Charon, and the Oracle.
  • The actor playing Chiron also playing Poseidon and Hades.
• Actor-Inspired Element: There's a minor one from "Bring On the Monsters", which has Annabeth responds to Percy's assertion that they're "never going to once have it easy" with "feeling stoked". This was put in to honor Kristin Stokes, who had been working with the show for a long time and played Annabeth in the Lortel run, the first national tour, and on the cast recording.
• Actor-Shared Background: Two. Chris McCarrell and James Hayden Rodriguez, who played Percy and Luke respectively, share traits with their characters.
  • Chris McCarrell really does have ADHD and spent a lot of time in his younger years being underestimated for it before he became a rock star in his field, mirroring Percy's zero to hero arc.
  • James Hayden Rodriguez had a father who wasn't in the picture much, and struggled heavily with resentment and anger because of it.
• Approval of God: Rick Riordan has expressed his liking for the musical, particularly when compared with the film adaptation.
• Cut Song: "The Little Minotaur", "Pick A Side", and "Take the Weight" from the musical. "In the Same Boat" was partially cannibalized into "Drive".
• Dawson Casting: The musical also indulges in this, despite keeping the characters' original ages. Semi-justified given that there's an inherently higher demand on suspension of disbelief in theater productions than in film, and what you can do with special effects, harnesses, and stunt doubles in a movie is often a liability lawsuit waiting to happen in a live production, particularly when underage actors are involved.
• Irony as She Is Cast: A minor one from the cast recording of the musical. Chris McCarrell, who played Percy, admitted in an interview that he hates the ocean.

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