Epic: The Musical is a collection of nine different concept albums that are inspired by and are meant to tell the story of Homer’s Odyssey. Jorge Rivera-Herrans, who has written all the music and plays as Odysseus himself, released the first album (referred to as sagas) on Christmas in 2022.Â
*Quick disclaimer* To keep this article a reasonable length, I am not going to discuss everything that happens in each saga. If you want to know everything that happens, I highly recommend you go and listen to the albums yourself!Â
Albums in order:Â
- The first album is titled EPIC: The Troy Saga (Dec. 25, 2022), and it focuses on the battle of Troy. In Homer’s Odyssey, this is where we get to see a great deal of Odysseus’s leadership skills and where the readers of the book understand the importance of Odysseus and his actions.Â
- The next album in the lineup is EPIC: The Cyclops Saga (Original release – Jan. 27, 2023, Re-release Jul. 4, 2024). This is the part in the story where Odysseus encounters the lotus-eaters and the cyclops named Polyphemus.Â
- EPIC: The Ocean Saga (Dec. 25, 2023)
- EPIC: The Circe Saga (Feb. 14, 2024)
- EPIC: The Underworld Sea (Apr. 26, 2024)
- EPIC: The Thunder Saga (Jul. 4, 2024). Thunder Saga marks the beginning of Act Two. Odysseus is, of course, still trying to get back home. It is here that he meets a siren that disguises itself as his wife, Penelope. It is at this point in the story that we get to see just how much he misses and loves his wife, as we see him sacrifice the rest of his crew who are on this journey with him.Â
- EPIC: The Wisdom Saga (Aug. 30, 2024)
- EPIC: The Vengeance Saga (Oct. 31, 2024)
- EPIC: The Ithaca Saga (Dec. 25, 2024). This is the last released album. It is at this point that Odysseus seeks revenge on all of Penelope’s suitors after returning home and making himself known to her, and where they reveal their never-ending love to each other and the audience!
I was first introduced to this musical probably a year ago by my brother. Since then, I have listened to all the albums with him, but it wasn’t until I started to see all the (LIFE ALTERING) edits to the song “Would You Fall in Love with Me Again” on TikTok that I really started to listen to the albums myself and appreciate them more.Â
It was only just recently that I read The Odyssey of Homer for myself. Since reading the story, I will say that it is a lot more fun getting to listen to these songs while also getting to picture some of the literary images/scenes from the book itself, and putting the two together. Reading The Odyssey is not a prerequisite for listening to the musical, especially considering the book can be a bit of a difficult read in certain parts. Especially when read for non-recreational purposes (I am most definitely speaking from personal experience). Still, I will say that knowing the book makes it a lot more fun. This is in part because you can compare the two and spot the differences and similarities of each, which, for me, was really interesting to do (coming from an English major and ultimately, a literary nerd).Â
After listening to all of the albums, my favorite song is still “Open Arms”, which is featured on the first album, The Troy Saga. All of the songs do a great job of storytelling in such a small time frame, but there is something about this song specifically that catches my attention differently. Aside from being extremely catchy, I think what I like about this song the most is the level of detail and the emotion/energy in it. It’s a vibe.Â
Something else that I love is the fact that there are music videos for the different songs using different clips and videos of fan art. I think there’s something worth looking at, if not for the fact of just listening to the songs, but also to appreciate the time and energy that everyone has put into this series, both on the artists and the fans’ sides.Â