Kristin Stokes on Breaking Ribs and 'Breaking Ground' with The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical

Kristin Stokes has been bringing Annabeth Chase to life on stage for the past three years, and now she's making her Broadway debut as the wise demigod in The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical. Based on Rick Riordan's uber-popular series, the new musical follows the adventures of Percy Jackson, played by Chris McCarrell, and his fellow children of gods at Camp Half-Blood. To celebrate the show's long quest to Broadway and its recent opening night, Stokes stopped by Broadway.com's #LiveatFive to talk all about her love for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, breaking a rib and more. "It's so magical to be a part of the Broadway community and to come to work every day and be with all the people that I love," she said to Ryan Lee Gilbert. "We've been doing this show off-Broadway, we toured with it, it feels like one big camp. When we were on tour, it felt like a literal quest. Now getting to be on Broadway is the most fun."

This isn't the first time the popular books series has been adapted. While the two Logan Lerman-led movies are notorious for going off-book, the new musical has a blessing from author Riordan. "One of the things that really appealed to me when reading these books is that Rick Riordan does a really fantastic job presenting a character that you immediately know and relate to. The tone and the humor that is captured in the book, and that I think we capture in our show, is so fun. It takes itself just seriously enough, but then you're sprayed by toilet water. It's the best."

Although there's toilet paper guns and water sprays, The Lightning Thief musical is still ready for battle. "We are really fighting with swords and climbing up scaffolding," Stokes said. "It does feel like we're breaking ground. I don't know if I can think of a musical that is has rockin' music and is this epic with a very traditional hero's journey story. To have this all breaking into musical theater is so fun. There's something special about it."

Having gone on the theatrical quest for three years now means Stokes has gone to Hades and back again too many times to count, and sometime those trips are more dangerous than others. "The bruises on my legs right now tell the story of this show," she said. "I can't tell you how many times my fingers have gotten smashed by these spears that we're using. The first night of previews on tour, I broke a rib. I was like, 'It's fine, let's just tape it and keep going.' That's what Annabeth would, do right? It's all par for the course with this show. It's the most exciting thing to get to do."

See Stokes in The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, playing at the Longacre Theatre!

Watch the full #LiveatFive episode below!