Review: “Epic: the Musical” A Three Thousand Year Old Tale

A personal view on Jorge Riverra-Herrans’ musical

by Ally Kelley, Multimedia Editor • October 28, 2024

This graphic depicts the events within Jorge RIverra-Herrans’ Epic: the Musical. There will be a total of 40 songs, with 10 total sagas.

Would you listen to a musical based on a historical poem?

Would you listen to a musical that has a following of over 211 thousand people, on Instagram alone?

You should, and here’s why:

The character development and musicality will have you in a chokehold.

Jorge Riverra-Herrans, an online artist, has been writing a musical about Homer’s Odyssey since June of 2019. Since then, he has released “sagas” that go along the storyline. The next one is set to release on Oct. 31.

Overall, my favorite saga has been “The Underworld Saga,” and my favorite song has been “Scylla.” Although this is a niche topic, the music has been done so well, and listeners don’t need to know what the Odyssey is to understand what is going on.

“I actually just saw a few TikTok videos of one of the songs [and thought], ‘this is pretty good.’ So I started listening to that song. [Later] I realized there was more, and now it’s a problem,” Alexa Massey ‘25 said.

Act One consists of 20 songs spread out through five sagas, and Act Two will consist of 20 songs with five songs in each saga. Each had bits and pieces that intertwined with the rest, creating depth and layers making them powerful.

Here are my favorite songs:

“Open Arms,” from The Troy Saga

This is my favorite song in “The Troy Saga.” I love how the relationship between Odysseus and Poletis makes them like brothers. This song has such a deeper meaning as the musical goes on, so listening to it after hearing all the sagas compared to listening to it at first is wildly different.

This graphic depicts what happens in the Troy Saga. “[This saga] shows [this] sense of the character development from when he turns into a mad monster and it’s kind of referenced throughout all of the Sagas, as you know, and so it really sets you up for everything else shows his remorse,” Sophia Miller ‘25 said.

“Remember Them”

This is my favorite song in “The Cyclops Saga,” entirely because of how Odysseus reacts to the situation around him.

: This graphic depicts what happens in the Cyclops Saga. “I remember studying it a little bit in freshman year, really emphasizing on like, everything that was covered in the Cyclops saga. Yeah, as well as like, the triangle, monsters triangle so they were scrilla and that’s what I go over. Right. So that was kind of the only part that I liked, prior to like listening to those parts, and it was really cool to kind of see those references like Cyclops Saga. I understood it because I could see everything that was going on. I was like, Oh my god,” Sophia Miller ‘25 said.
(media by Ally Kelley)

“Ruthlessness”

This is my favorite song in “The Ocean Saga.” I love how the use of the lyrics from “Just a Man,” create depth in Odysseus’ story. Riviera-Herrans does this for many of his songs, layering different parts throughout the musical.

This graphic depicts what happens in the Ocean Saga. “I thought it was really incredible as you can hear ‘Storm’ in the background of [the song ‘Ruthlessness’], and you can hear, like I even heard back in ‘Remember Me,’ I think it was you can hear a little bit of like electric guitar in the background. And that was kind of a reference to Poseidon and there’s so many references it’s so packed,” Sophia Miller ‘25 said.
(media by Ally Kelley)

“Done For”

This is my favorite song in “The Circe Saga.” I love this song because this is when listeners realize that Circe never meant to be a villain, she only wants to keep her loved ones safe.

This graphic depicts what happens in the Circe Saga. “I think it’s a very cool transition, like how she tries to get him to stay with her [but he still] remembers his wife and kid,” Sophia Miller ‘25 said.
(media by Ally Kelley)

“No Longer You”

This song is the perfect transition between “the Underworld” and “Monster,” which makes it my favorite song in “The Underworld Saga.” It shows the character development that Odysseus will be making in the next song.

: This graphic depicts what happens in the Underworld Saga. “[‘No Longer You’ is] actually one of my favorite songs. But it’s, I really like it because it just shows how Odysseus is going to change and how he needs to or else he’s gonna die,” Massey said.
(media by Ally Kelley)

“Scylla”

This is my favorite song in not only “The Thunder Saga,” but in the entire musical so far. KJ Burkjauser depicts Scylla’s character beautifully. Her voice is strong, yet full of grace and beauty.

This graphic depicts the events of the Thunder Saga. (media by Ally Kelley)

“Love in Paradise”

This was the hardest to decide, because I loved all of the songs. This is my favorite song in “the Wisdom Saga,” because not only does it have a clip from every saga, which gave me goosebumps, but it introduced a hilarious, delusional god who is in love with Odysseus.

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