Epic The Musical is a nine-part, fully sung-through musical album series that was created by Jorge Rivera-Herrans. Rivera-Herrans is a playwright, songwriter and actor who is dedicated to storytelling. He also founded the company Winion Entertainment LLC. The series follows the character Odysseus from Homer’s Greek epic, The Odyssey, and his 20 year long journey home after the Trojan War. Using The Odyssey as a, in Rivera-Herrans’ words, “loosely based” inspiration, he also took inspirations from video games and animations to create the masterpiece called Epic. What started out as a fun project for him, eventually gained traction and went viral in early 2021 through TikTok, creating a dedicated fan base before the series was even finished. Viewers decided they were going to contribute their own pieces of art and created animatics and interpretations of each saga.
There are two acts and nine sagas in Epic. Act 1 contains “The First Saga: Troy”, “The Second Saga: Cyclops”, “The Third Saga: Ocean”, “The Fourth Saga: Circe”, “The Fifth Saga: Underworld” and Act 2 contains “The Sixth Saga: Thunder”, “The Seventh Saga: Wisdom”, “The Eighth Saga: Vengeance” and “The Ninth Saga: Ithaca.” Each saga represents a different part of Odysseus’ journey.
The Troy Saga is the first album that was released on Dec. 25, 2022. The album contains five songs, but because the entire musical is 40 songs long, I’m just going to choose my favorite from each saga. This saga consists of “The Horse and the Infant”, “Just a Man”, “Full Speed Ahead”, “Open Arms” and “Warrior of the Mind.” Epic follows a musical choice of assigning instruments to different characters, also referred to as a leitmotif, which is really fun to learn. One example of a leitmotif in Epic is Odysseus, who is followed by a guitar throughout the musical.
“Warrior of the Mind” is a duet between Odysseus, played by Rivera-Herrans, and Athena, played by Teagan Earley. This song introduces another leitmotif in which Athena is represented by piano. In this song we learn that Odysseus and Athena go way back and have a student-mentor relationship. It doesn’t follow much of the Troy Saga, it’s essentially more of a flashback to how they met. The song ends with Athena saying that if he doesn’t succeed in his quest, then she’ll receive criticism for it. “Warrior of the Mind” is my favorite song out of the Troy Saga, there’s just something about it. The musical structuring is addictive, the characterization of little Odysseus and Athena really comes through. Rivera-Herrans and Earley also do some beautiful vocal runs that add so much to the song.
The Cyclops Saga is a lot darker than the previous saga. The music shifts into a much more haunting instrumental. This saga was released in Jan. 27, 2023 and contains four songs. The Cyclops Saga focuses on when Odysseus and his men find an island full of food after having run out of their own sustenance, but also run into cyclopes. Rivera-Herrans also plays the Cyclops, Polyphemus, but his voice is altered to a much deeper and spooky tone. This saga was a difficult one to pick my favorite, so I eventually decided on two.
The first song is “Remember Them,” which does what the title suggests. It’s basically a memorial for the fallen soldiers. They sing for their friends and use the grief and anger as a force to finish off Polyphemus. Odysseus commands his men to blind the Cyclops by stabbing his eye, however the cyclops calls out for help from other cyclopes. This song hits so hard, and it gives off a lot more rock vibes, which I love, along with electric guitar riffs.
My second favorite song of the Cyclops Saga is “My Goodbye,” another duet between Athena and Odysseus. Shocking, I know. However, this one is to part ways. Athena is disappointed in Odysseus because he ignored logic and let his emotions take control, and she decides that maybe leaving his life would teach him a lesson. The emotions in Rivera-Herrans and Earley’s voices, the lyrics hit hard and it’s basically a break-up song and those will always get me. They even reuse the vocal runs from “Warrior of the Mind,” which I have to say is a genius choice, as it’s their first meeting and their last.
The Ocean Saga was released in Dec. 25, 2023 and also consists of four songs. This saga follows Odysseus’ journey through a storm, to the island of Aeolia, or the home of the Wind God Aeolus. In this saga, we also get introduced to Poseidon, the God of the Sea.
One song in this saga is “Luck Runs Out,” a duet between Odysseus and Eurylochus, Odysseus’ second-in-command played by Armando Julián. In this song, Eurylochus questions Odysseus in front of the entire crew. He basically says that Odysseus is relying on luck far too much and it will eventually run out, creating more problems for him and the crew. This is my second favorite song in this saga, partially because it’s different from the others and has more of a rap flow. The song starts off pretty similar to the others, relatively slow and calming with lighter instruments, but then the tempo gets quicker and the vocals play with the beat in the background. When the instrumental goes higher so do the vocals. I also just love a good confrontation song.
Then, we have “Ruthlessness,” which might just be one of my overall favorite songs from the musical. Steven Rodriguez’s vocal tone for Poseidon is incredible. The raspiness adds so much to the song. Odysseus refused to kill Polyphemus, so now Poseidon is coming for revenge. For context, Polyphemus is Poseidon’s son. The whole song is basically just Poseidon’s philosophy of “ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves.” Poseidon takes his revenge and by the end of it Odysseus is left with 43 men out of 600. There’s then a minor reprise from “Just a Man,” Odysseus then opens the wind bag and escapes, which leads us into the fourth saga.
The Circe Saga was released in Feb. 14, 2024 and it contains four songs. This saga introduces us to the sorceress Circe, played by Talya Sindel. She tries to seduce Odysseus, turns his men into pigs and then decides to help them get to the Underworld. We also get our first introduction to Hermes, played by Troy Doherty. This saga is by far the hardest to pick a favorite song from because they’re all such good songs. Sindel’s voice is absolutely stunning, she pulls off an “enchanting” voice so well!
My favorite song of this saga might be “There Are Other Ways.” This is where major differences from The Odyssey start to be easy to spot. In The Odyssey, Odysseus spends a year on Circe’s land and even becomes her lover, having three children together. However, in the musical Odysseus stays loyal to his wife, refusing Circe’s seductions which I think is what led to Circe deciding to help the crew. As stated before, Sindel’s voice is stunning and she makes it feel like you’re in a trance-like state, if that makes any sense.
The Underworld Saga was released on April 26, 2024 and it consists of three songs. It’s also the final saga of Act 1. This saga made me full-on sob, not even kidding. I can’t even pick a favorite song because they’re all so good and heartbreaking, but the first song contains a lot to discuss.
The introduction to the Underworld Saga is “The Underworld.” The song starts off sad, but then gets miserable. Odysseus is confronted by the spirits of the men who died throughout the journey and his reaction to them absolutely destroyed me. He’s filled with regret and guilt for what happened to his men. Rivera-Herrans vocal tone sounds absolutely destroyed. There are vocal breaks that are gorgeous, the haunting background singing and instrumental comes back, there’s bits from “Just a Man” and “Full Speed Ahead” and then of course they decide to bring in Odysseus’ mother, played by Rivera-Herrans actual mother, whose last words were that she would wait for Odysseus to return home. The exact lyrics are, “Odysseus, when you come home I’ll be waiting / Even if you’re the last thing I see, I’ll be waiting / I’m right here, mom / Can’t you see? I’m (waiting).” To make it even more melancholic, Jorge Rivera-Herrans, the absolute angst genius, adds the lyrics, “I took too long.” That was a gut punch straight through my heart. The song then ends with repetition from the beginning of the song, but much more emotional. It feels almost like Rivera-Herrans is screaming the lyrics. I’ve listened to this song almost 15 times since I first got into this musical and I cry every time.
In conclusion, Act 1 started relatively calm, with hints of despair sprinkled in there and then it just became pure depression. Now that I know how effectively Rivera-Herrans can write angst, I’m looking forward to Act 2 and also expecting lots more tears.
