In Which I Attempt To Explain EPIC: The Musical (Part 1)
Part 1 of explaining one of my favorite musicals ever!
Hello, friends!
As you may know, I’ve been writing on Substack since October, where I’ve shared lots of posts about writing, reading, and the occasional review! I knew after reviewing Newsies that I wanted to dive into one of my favorite musicals ever, EPIC: the Musical. But how to explain a two-act, two-hour-long musical in ONE post without it dragging on forever?
So, I decided to separate the discussion into two parts! This week I’ll discuss Act 1 in detail, and next week I’ll dive into Act 2! Please be aware going forward, that in order to explain this musical, there will be lots of spoilers of The Odyssey.
There’s so much to discuss, so let’s get started!
What is EPIC: the Musical?
If you’re into Greek mythology like me, you might know there was a man named Homer who wrote two big stories in his lifetime, among other smaller projects. Those stories were known as epics, because they were…well, long and epic. Homer wrote The Iliad, about a man named Paris who stole Helen, the wife of a super powerful king named Menelaus, and the ensuing ten-year war between Paris’s people, the Trojans, and Menelaus’s people, the Greeks.
But Homer also wrote The Odyssey, which picks up right where The Iliad left off and follows Odysseus, the king of Ithaca (and Menelaus’s best friend) as he fights in the Trojan War and tries to make it home to Ithaca while battling monsters and gods.
EPIC: The Musical is based off of The Odyssey, taking the story and reworking it into a musical. And I love it!
Disclaimer:
Before we get started with Act 1, I wanted to offer a quick disclaimer:
⚠️ This musical has lots of PG-13 content, including blood, gore, death, some swear words, a few creepy people, and mature connotations. I do not endorse any of this content, but I will say that it does make the moral of the musical stronger. Nevertheless, if this makes you uncomfortable, I recommend not listening to it. ⚠️
Alright, that being said…let’s dive in! I’ve divided the sagas up into individual songs for optimal listening (with commentary and an animated drawing of the song called an animatic) but if you prefer listening to the whole playlist, I’ve linked the entire first act at the bottom of the post!
My Journey To EPIC: The Musical
I first heard of EPIC from a friend of mine on an online writing forum. I accidentally started listening to it out of order, but once I found the creator of the musical, Jorge Rivera-Herrans, online, I found the right way to listen to it, and I was instantly hooked!
One of my favorite facets about EPIC is how it leans into the storytelling aspect of the journey Odysseus takes during The Odyssey, letting you use your imagination to fill in certain gaps of the story! It’s also a masterpiece from a musical standpoint; there are SO many hidden easter eggs and motifs and musical technicalities that Jorge hid in the musical.
Listening To EPIC: The Musical
Because I started EPIC: the Musical out of order, I thought it would be helpful (and fun) to explain how the order works, then walk you through it song by song!
In EPIC, there are two acts. Each act is a little over an hour long and divided into sagas:
Act 1: The Troy Saga, The Cyclops Saga, The Ocean Saga, The Circe Saga, and The Underworld Saga
Act 2: The Thunder Saga, The Wisdom Saga, The Vengeance Saga, and The Ithaca Saga
Those sagas are further divided into songs, ranging from three to five songs each. Each saga is about fifteen to thirty minutes long.
Because I’m only covering Act 1 this week, I will only go through the Act 1 sagas. Next week, I’ll go through all the Act 2 sagas!
EPIC: The Troy Saga:
The Horse and The Infant: The musical begins with Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, fighting in the Trojan War. He leads his army into Troy and gets stabbed by Zeus, the king of the gods, who tells him to kill a foe’s son, Astanax, or else.
Just A Man: Odysseus grapples with the idea of killing Astanax, reflecting on the fact that the baby was the same age as his own son, Telemachus, when he left. Faced with Zeus’ wrath, he decides that he needs to get home to his wife, Penelope, and Telemachus and goes against his own morals.
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animatic:
Full Speed Ahead: We meet Odysseus’s second-in-command, Eurylochus, and his best friend, Polites, as they leave Troy headed for Ithaca. We learn that the crew doesn’t have enough food, so they follow a flock of birds to a mysterious island. Eurylochus is hesitant to go to the island, but Odysseus takes Polites and tells them to follow if they’re not back by sunrise.
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Open Arms: Polites and Odysseus are on the island and are approached by a group of fuzzy creatures called the Lotus Eaters (also known as Winions.). Odysseus watches as Polites uses his tactic of “open arms” to ask the winions where food is. The winions tell them there is lots of food in a cave in the east. Odysseus accepts the idea of open arms.
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Warrior of the Mind: The goddess Athena, displeased with Odysseus choosing open arms, takes him back in time to when they first met and he became a warrior of the mind. Athena leaves Odysseus with the reminder “Don’t disappoint me.”
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EPIC: The Cyclops Saga
Polyphemus: Odysseus and most of his crew, who have found the cave, enter it and find hundreds of sheep. They kill one, but incur the wrath of a cyclops, Polyphemus, who is angry because that was his favorite sheep. Odysseus offers wine and says his name is Nobody, but Polyphemus still decides to kill them.
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Survive: As Polyphemus attacks the crew, Odysseus instructs his crew to avoid him. But Polyphemus uses his hidden club to attack them, and *Polites, among others, dies.* Odysseus goes into shock.
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Remember Them: Coming back to reality, Odysseus forms a plan. He tells his crew to sharpen Polyphemus’ club into a spear and drop it on the cyclops’s eye. The plan works, and in a moment of weakness, Odysseus reveals that he is the king of Ithaca for Polyphemus to hear.
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My Goodbye: Athena, disgusted with Odysseus’s idea, tells him that they will no longer be working together and that they will part ways. They say some ugly things to each other before Athena vanishes into thin air. Odysseus is now without a mentor to guide him, forced to make his own decisions and face the repercussions.
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EPIC: The Ocean Saga
Storm: Odysseus and the remainder of his crew battle a fierce storm. Eurylochus is worried they won’t make it any further, but Odysseus spies an island floating in the sky and tells his crew to use their harpoons to anchor their boats to the island. It works.
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Luck Runs Out: Eurylochus questions Odysseus, who is going to climb the island to see the wind god, Aeolus, who lives there. Eurylochus is convinced that Odysseus’ cunning nature will get them all in trouble when “luck runs out,” but Odysseus asks him not to mention these fears so the crew doesn’t revolt.
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Keep Your Friends Close: Odysseus meets Aeolus, who gives him a wind bag with the storm they just fought, telling him to keep the bag closed. Odysseus stays awake for nine days straight before falling asleep. He wakes up to the bag opened and the storm released, pushing them towards the land of the giants. Odysseus scrambles to save the rest of the wind. But then…a mysterious figure appears…
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Ruthlessness: Poseidon, the god of the ocean, emerges, completely enraged. He tells Odysseus that Polyphemus was his son and now he will get revenge on Odysseus and his crew. Odysseus tries to reason with Poseidon, but *Poseidon sinks almost all of his crew.* He saves Odysseus’s boat for last, but before he can destroy it too, Odysseus uses the rest of the wind to propel himself away from Poseidon, saving himself and the 43 members of his crew from death.
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EPIC: The Circe Saga
Puppeteer: Odysseus and the rest of his crew wash up on a nearby shore. Eurylochus tells Odysseus he needs to tell him something, but Odysseus ignores him and sends him and the rest of the crew to investigate. Eurylochus returns a short time later with no crew and tells Odysseus that a mysterious woman named Circe cursed his men. Odysseus decides to fight Circe and goes off to find her.
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Wouldn’t You Like: The messenger god Hermes appears and offers Odysseus special fruit called moly to help him defeat Circe.
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Done For: Odysseus and Circe battle in her palace. Odysseus uses the moly to beat Circe, but she tricks him into revealing his loyalty for Penelope, his wife.
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There Are Other Ways: Circe surprises Odysseus by agreeing to help him get home away from Poseidon. She explains she can’t get him home, but she CAN free his men and send him to the Underworld, where a prophet waits to give Odysseus advice. She concludes by explaining that she hopes the world won’t need her to be so ruthless, which is why she helps Odysseus.
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EPIC: The Underworld Saga
The Underworld: Odysseus and his crew enter the Underworld. Odysseus tells them not to get distracted so they can find the prophet, but he is instantly sucked back into a spiral of grief when he sees the dead crew members, Polites, the infant, and his mother (who died while he was gone,) in the Underworld.
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No Longer You: Odysseus finds the prophet, Tiresias, who is bombarded with all present, past, and future. Tiresias tells Odysseus that there is an alternate dimension where he could have helped Odysseus get home, but in this time and place, he’ll come home changed. Not only that, but his wife will end up with a man who is a monster. Odysseus, enraged, tries to get more out of Tiresias, but Tiresias is unable to tell him anything more.
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Monster: Odysseus, contemplating the words that Tiresias told him, realizes there is a pattern to the monsters he fought. He resolves to be ruthless from then on to get himself and his crew home. He has become a monster.
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- end of act 1 -
If you don’t want to listen to the audio (or watch the animatics) separately, here’s the entirety of the first act!
Thoughts:
Act 1 is such an interesting setup to Act 2. At the very end of this act, we have begun a new arc for Odysseus: one where he is ruthless like Poseidon and does anything in his power to go home. The catalyst for this ruthlessness has been triggered; how he will use it comes into play in Act 2!
Easter Eggs/Goofs:
When Odysseus is explaining to Circe about his journey, he says he has been gone for twelve long years. Jorge, the creator of the musical, intended for it to be ten long years. The fandom agrees that Odysseus was probably really tired and just added two years by accident.
In “Ruthlessness,” Poseidon says that there are 43 men left under Odysseus’s command, which means the number killed was 457. But in The Underworld, the men sing that there are 458 men killed. This is because of Elpenor, who drank too much and fell off of the roof of Circe’s palace. This tidbit is explained in further detail here.
The second chorus of “No Longer You” and the epic choir in the last thirty seconds refer to certain details in Act 2!
In “Puppeteer,” when Odysseus and Eurylochus are arguing about whether to go or stay, you can hear Hermes’s instrument, the lyre, playing in the background, symbolizing that he’s listening to the conversation. This is also true for Athena in “The Horse and the Infant”; you can hear her clock motif in the background.
No explanation necessary (yes, Jorge is a genius who can be rather silly at times)
I hope you enjoyed this (rather lengthy) post about Act 1 of EPIC: the Musical! Let me know what your favorite song of Act 1 – or any thoughts you have on Act 1 – in the comments below!
Have a wonderful day!
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I had no clue about the guy who fell off the roof at Circe's. 😂 That's an awesome bit of trivia there