The Lightning Thief at Empress Theatre

I have been obsessed with Greek mythology all my life for obvious reasons (google my first name) so I was really excited when the Empress Theatre announced The Lightning Thief as part of their 2026 season. I was so excited I got a ticket for opening night and I had the best time watching this energetic show with a large and boisterous crowd! Perseus "Percy" Jackson (Elias Silva) is expelled from his fifth school in as many years after he kills a Fury masquerading as a substitute math teacher named Mrs. Dodds (Cheryl Cripps) on a field trip. His mother Sally (Monique Derr) takes him to the beach to explain why he has powers that he cannot control but, before she can reveal anything, they are attacked by a Minotaur who kills her before Percy can kill it. Soon after, his Latin teacher Mr. Brunner reveals that he is really Chiron (Konnor Hafen), a centaur, and that his best friend Grover Underwood (Parker Skeen) is really a satyr, a goat-like creature, before taking him to Camp Half-Blood, a refuge for the children of humans and gods. The camp counselor Dionysius (Josh Starr) introduces him to Luke Castellan (Beck Bassett), the son of Hermes, Annabeth Chase (Eloise Derr), the daughter of Athena, Silena Beauregard (M. Francis Le), the daughter of Aphrodite, Kate Gardner (Fiona Derr), the daughter of Demeter, and Clarisse LaRue (Lucy Bawden), the daughter of Ares. He also eventually discovers that he is the son of Poseidon (Josh Starr). However, he is accused of of stealing Zeus's lightning bolt and must go on a quest to retrieve it from the real thief, Hades (Konnor Hafen), to prevent a war between the gods. On the journey to the Underworld, Percy, Grover, and Annabeth encounter three Furies, Medusa, and the Chimera but, when they finally arrive, Hades informs them that they have been manipulated by Ares. This culminates in an epic battle in which Percy is helped by Poseidon. They return to Camp Half-Blood heroes but learn that they must face an even bigger threat. I really love this show because, while it is an amusing and clever take on Greek mythology that will make you laugh, it is also a poignant story about the struggle to fit in and feel good enough and seeing this young and talented cast embody this struggle so well is incredibly moving. Silva is an enthusiastic and charismatic Percy who is very entertaining to watch but I was most impressed by his touching performance of "Good Kid." I had a similar reaction to "My Grand Plan" by Derr and "The Tree on the Hill" by Bassett because the emotion is palpable and they gave me goosebumps. The ensemble cast, most of whom play multiple parts, is also outstanding but my favorites are Hafen because he is absolutely hilarious as both Chiron and Hades and Cheryl Cripps because she brings the house down as Charon in the song "D.O.A." The minimal set, which features three large columns made of fabric and plaques representing all of the gods, and the contemporary costumes (I especially loved the Camp Half-Blood t-shirts) are very effective and I really enjoyed the energetic choreography. Finally, one of the reasons I love seeing shows at small community theaters is because they have to be really clever when it comes to special effects (they usually don't have the technical wizardry or the budget for elaborate spectacles) and this production does a brilliant job of portraying the monsters with just colored lights, shadows, and projections. This is so much fun and it has an important message about belonging so I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here). It runs on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through August 8.

Rose of Nevada

I was absolutely mesmerized by the movie Enys Men so I was excited to see Mark Jenkin's latest, Rose of Nevada, at the Broadway yesterday.  When the fishing vessel Rose of Nevada disappeared from a Cornish village thirty years ago, the effect was catastrophic.  The community has not yet recovered economically and the families of the lost fishermen, Alan and Luke, are still mourning the loss.  The boat mysteriously reappears and Mike (Edward Rowe), the former owner, decides to hire a new crew and send it back out to sea.  He recruits Nick (George MacKay), a husband and father who desperately needs money to repair his roof, and Liam (Callum Turner), an itinerant worker who sleeps on the dock.  Even though neither one of them have experience, they return with a substantial catch but the village they return to is thirty years in the past.  Liam is mistaken for Alan and is warmly welcomed by Alan's wife Tina (Rosalind Eleazar) and his young daughter while Nick is mistaken for Luke and is taken in by Luke's parents (Adrian Rawlins and Mary Woodvine).  They both realize that something is amiss and go back out on the boat thinking that they will reset the timeline but, when they return to the past again, Liam happily settles into a life with Tina.  However, Nick is increasingly distraught and goes to extraordinary lengths to return to his wife Emily (Mae Voogd) and young daughter but eventually becomes conflicted about condemning his community to poverty and grief again.  What I love about Jenkin as a filmmaker is the way he uses images rather than dialogue to tell the story.  He opens with a series of static shots and it is immediately clear that the village is suffering from an economic depression.  He also uses several extended sequences of Nick and Liam working on the boat (fishing is hard work) to establish that they have an aptitude for the job despite the fact they have no experience.  I also love the ambiguity in his movies, especially in this narrative, because you are never really sure if Nick has been displaced in time or if he is suffering from madness.  I was particularly struck by a recurring photo of Alan and Luke taken on the boat because the movie ends with Nick and Liam in that same photo.  Finally, I loved the use of degraded 16mm film, because this emphasizes that these characters are in another time, as well as the unsettling sound design and otherwordly score, because it creates such a haunting atmosphere.  I really dug this and am now eagerly awaiting the next movie from Jenkin.

Note:  I basically spent the whole day at the Broadway because I saw The Odyssey in 35mm (my third viewing!) next.  It gets better every time I see it!

Once at CPT

I went back to CPT last night to see Once on the Mountain America Main Stage with both of my sisters. I love this show so much and, because the people sitting around me didn't know anything about it, I was really hyping it up! Luckily they all enjoyed this production as much as I did! A Guy (Nathan Bowser) is busking on a Dublin street when a Girl (Lindsea Garside) strikes up a conversation with him because she likes his music. He reluctantly tells her that he wants to give up on music because all of his songs are about a girl who left him to move to New York. The Girl encourages him to play more of his music for her and eventually helps him record a demo. He begins to have feelings for her and reveals that he may have written the songs for another girl but now he is singing them for her. She knows that she needs to reconcile with her estranged husband for the sake of her daughter and that he needs to go to New York and play his music for his former girlfriend so, even though she loves him, she tearfully convinces him to go. The ending is bittersweet (I always get tears in my eyes) but I think the theme is universal because most of us have had people enter our lives for a brief moment and have a profound impact on us. I absolutely loved the staging of this production (every version I have seen has been slightly different) because the set features a Dublin street and the exteriors of a repair shop, a music store, the Girl's house, and a pub. Minimal set pieces for the interiors of these locations are brought on by the ensemble through a large garage door on the street and the lights inside each building are illuminated to denote where the scene is taking place (I think this is really clever). Every member of the ensemble, including Brandon Garside, Theresa Chatelain, Faith Driggs, Isaac Carrillo, Ryan Boam, Kristen Alley, Jacob Draper, David Johnson, Alec Halpin, and Katie Lewis Higbee, plays multiple instruments live on stage and the way they are integrated into the narrative is brilliant (they are all unbelievably talented). The folk music is beautiful and hearing my favorite songs, "Falling Slowly" (even if you are not familiar with this show you might recognize this), "If You Want Me," and "Gold," gave me goosebumps! Bowser and Garside are outstanding as the leads and they give incredibly passionate performances (Garside's rendition of "The Hill" is especially powerful). Finally, the original Broadway production features a lot of profanity but this version, much like the one at HCTO, omits it so it is suitable for everyone. This show is grand and it definitely deserves to be seen by more people so I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here). It runs on the Mountain America Main Stage at CPT through August 18.

Tarzan at CPT

Last night I went to see Tarzan on the Second Stage at CPT. I was really excited for this show because I had heard rave reviews for the production and I was definitely not disappointed! This musical is based on the popular story by Edgar Rice Burroughs and features fantastic music by Phil Collins. Kerchak (Ben Fonoimoana Tutor), the leader of a tribe of gorillas, is unhappy when his wife Kala (Janzell Luika Kim Tutor) adopts a baby whose parents have been killed because he doesn't think a human belongs with their family. Young Tarzan (Levi W. Johnson) struggles to keep up with the rest of the tribe until he is befriended by Terk (Braden Hull) who shows him how to be a gorilla but when he teaches Terk to make a spear for picking fruit, Kerchak is afraid that he will hurt the other gorillas so he forces him into exile. Tarzan is distraught and wonders where he belongs so Kala decides to stay with him. Years later, Tarzan (Levi Larsen) is welcomed back into the tribe after he kills a leopard that has been terrorizing them. However, when Professor Porter (Nathan Jones) and his daughter Jane (Summer Sloan Alvey) bring an expedition to the jungle, Kerchak worries that Taran's interactions with the humans, especially Jane, will bring harm to the tribe. When Clayton (Hayden Henderson), a member of the expedition, threatens the gorillas, Tarzan must decide whether he belongs with Jane and the humans or with his adopted family. What makes this production so dazzling is the incredibly immersive set with dynamic projections on the LED screens that surround the stage and the audience (I loved watching the subtle movements of the leaves) and hanging vines from the rafters because these elements, along with the sound design, make you feel like you are actually in the middle of the jungle. I especially loved the staging of the shipwreck at the beginning of the show because it features the sound of waves and a projection of a ship on a scrim in the middle of the stage. It is incredibly realistic! The set also features a large tree that opens up to become Professor Porter's camp and a balcony that is transformed into the tree house built by Tarzan's parents. This stage is so intimate that Tarzan actually flies through the audience when he swings on the vines (he was literally a few inches from me)! Larsen is an incredibly athletic Tarzan who is really fun to watch (the three young girls sitting next to me were very enamored with him). I loved his performance of "Strangers Like Me," my favorite song in the show, but his version of "Everything That I Am" gave me goosebumps. Alvey has a wide-eyed wonder in the songs "Waiting For This Moment" and "For The First Time" (for both the flora and fauna and for Tarzan) and I loved all of her interactions with Larsen because she tries to hide the fact that she finds him attractive. Other standouts are Hull because he has a boisterous energy that is palpable and Johnson because he is adorable and his rendition of "I Need to Know" is so affecting. The choreography is thrilling and I especially enjoyed the rambunctious leaps and jumps in "Trashin' The Camp" and the aerialists in "Waiting For This Moment." The costumes are very vibrant and I also loved the puppets (the elephant made me giggle out loud). This production is outstanding and I highly recommend it for the whole family (all of the kids in the audience seemed to be having a lot of fun). It runs on the Second Stage through August 8 and tickets may be purchased here.

Note:  As I mentioned, the three girls sitting next to me were very vocal in their appreciation for Tarzan so Larsen high-fived them during the bows. I think it was the highlight of their lives!

The Odyssey

Last night I finally had the chance to see The Odyssey, one of my most anticipated movies of 2026, and I was absolutely blown away by both the spectacle and the storytelling.  Odysseus (Matt Damon), the king of Ithaca, leaves his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Tom Holland) to aid Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) on his quest to rescue Helen (Lupita Nyong'o), the wife of his brother Menelaus (Jon Bernthal), from Troy.  After successfully infiltrating the city by deception inside a large wooden horse, he sails home with his soldiers and Eurylochus (Himesh Patel), his increasingly distrustful second-in-command, but he chooses a slower route than Agamemnon because he is tormented by visions of Athena (Zendaya).  His journey is interrupted by battles with mythical creatures and angry gods until he takes solace with Calypso (Charlize Theron) who makes him forget his family and the loss of his crew for many years.  In Ithaca, Penelope is besieged by suitors wanting her to marry again, most notably Antinous (Robert Pattinson) and Polybus (Corey Hawkins), and is surrounded by duplicitous servants, including Melantho (Mia Goth) and her brother Melanthius (Logan Marshall-Green), while Telemachus is determined to find the truth about his father with the help of his loyal swineherd Eumaeus (John Leguizamo).  When Odysseus is finally able to return to Ithaca, he must confront the consequences of his actions.  What I loved most about this is that the immense scope and scale of Odysseus's physical journey, including some of the best action sequences involving practical effects that I've ever seen, is balanced by the intimacy of his existential journey of discovery.  The set pieces are big, loud, immersive, and sometimes terrifying, especially the scenes in which Polyphemus (a cyclops) and Scylla (a multi-headed monster) attack, with incredible visuals and sound design.  The third act, in particular, grabs you and doesn't let go with escalating tension that culminated in applause from my audience.  Damon gives the best performance of his career because his impressive physicality is coupled with some highly emotional scenes that brought tears to my eyes, particularly one with Penelope and Athena when he confesses to them.  I could also say the same for the entire cast but the standouts for me are Holland as Telemachus (even after watching him as Spider-Man for so many years I was truly not familiar with his game), because his restrained transformation from an overwhelmed boy to a man worthy to take the throne of Ithaca is very powerful, Samantha Morton as Circe, because her delivery of a monologue about the violence of men gave me goosebumps, Pattinson as Antinous, because he is just so sleazy and I loved his final confrontation with Damon, and Leguizamo as Eumaeus, because he steals every scene he is in.  Finally, my attention never wavered during the almost three hour runtime and I almost got a ticket to see it again as soon as it ended (I will see it again very soon).  This is a masterpiece and I cannot recommend it enough but definitely see it in IMAX with Dolby Atmos sound (you'll thank me later).

Note:  The only movie that even has a chance of dethroning this as my favorite of 2026 is Dune: Part Three.  Nolan has thrown down the gauntlet, Villeneuve!