Saturday: Kelly invited me to the Forest Hills musical presentation of "The Lightning Thief" matinee on Saturday afternoon. This is a high school musical, but the Middle School choir was singing back-up numbers ... and Brendan is IN that choir. I certainly would not want to miss an opportunity to see Brendan in a performance!
I had zero pre-conceived ideas about what the storyline was in "The Lightning Thief." I had never heard of it before--well, Brendan had been singing a few numbers the other day when I saw him, but I didn't really grasp much of what the story was about.
They asked that cameras and phones NOT flash during the performance; so I just snuck these pictures with the flash off. They did not turn out very well, but at least I have something to remember it by.
I will say that this performance was really well done--the lighting, technical aspects, staging ... all were really amazing. And the performers themselves were SO talented. Their voices! Wow. For high school people to accomplish this very complicated music was very impressive.
I'm going to copy and paste a summary of the story:
"The Lightning Thief is a children's fantasy novel by Rick Riordan about a 12-year-old boy who discovers he is the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Percy Jackson must retrieve Zeus's stolen lightning bolt and return it to Olympus to prevent a war between the gods."
I was never a person that enjoyed Greek mythology ... not even a little bit. No interest whatsoever. I'm not really sure why. I had a friend in junior high school who absolutely LOVED Greek and Roman mythology, but I don't think his love for it had any effect on me. I think it must be my Christian upbringing! To even remotely consider "other gods" is so ridiculously impossible, my imagination just won't accommodate it at all.
Erin and Aidan were completely into the stage sets and all the pretty lights. Aidan followed the story in every detail. He has a very analytical brain (!!). Little Cal, who was sitting right next to me, was very pleased that there were a ton of FIGHTS.
The middle school choir was NOT on stage except for the first song following Intermission. Instead, they were seated in the "wings" of the stage where they could watch and sing when indicated.
The arrow is pointing to Brendan ... who loves music and is very quick to pick up almost any musical score and enjoy it.
So ... while I was very impressed with the musical and acting performances, and it was obvious all of the students had worked their behinds off in this project ... the storyline itself was so DARK, DREARY and I found it ... meaningless and empty. Whoever the music/theatre teacher is who chose this particular story must have chosen it with a purpose--but what? There was a lot of FLARE and cool technical stuff throughout the whole two hours ... but ... once it was over, it was ... over. I couldn't help but wonder how many hours and hours these kids had put into memorizing their music and lyrics and dance moves and staging/props ... for what?
To quote a few verses from Ecclesiastes (Grandpa Jim's favorite--or at least ONE of his favorite--books of the Bible):
Ecclesiastes 1.2 "Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. Everything is meaningless."
2.10 "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the rewards for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun."
11:5. "As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things."
12:13. "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil."
I was very glad to be invited to "The Lightning Thief" and I was glad to watch Brendan's enthusiasm--he is so precious. I hope this "post" doesn't sound too negative--I am not criticizing Brendan at all; just sad that something more morally true, something truly beautiful, could have been presented instead.
PS What bothers me most about a "play" like this is that THE TRUE AND LIVING GOD is nothing like a mythical god at all: petty, fickle, jealous, adversarial, abusive, vengeful, selfish. No! The one true and living God is:
"I am the LORD, I am the LORD, the merciful and gracious God. I am slow to anger and rich in unfailing love and faithfulness. I show this unfailing love to many thousands by forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion." Exodus 34.6
And so much more! The LORD is the exact opposite of these smug and self-consumed mythological gods. It just seems to me, that having children focus so much of their time, energy, and amazing talent on something SO offensive to our God is just ... beyond sad. My heart is STILL sad days later. What if these kids internalize this story and it influences how they believe about our God? !!!
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