Maybe four years ago, if someone said the word ‘EPIC’ to you, you’d ask them what was so great. Or perhaps if you were a particular subtype of geek, your mind would go back to the epic poetry of Homer. But after its eighth Saga became the best-selling album on iTunes and passed 1 million downloads on Spotify in just over two days, there can be no doubt that more and more people have heard of the rapidly rising phenomenon that is EPIC: The musical.
Taking a video game and anime inspired spin on one of the world’s most famous classics, EPIC is a musical that follows Odysseus on his ten-year long journey from Troy back to Ithaca, starting with the Greek attack on Troy featuring the infamous wooden horse. Facing sorceresses, cyclops and vengeful sea gods, it’s no smooth sailing for our hero. But where do the last two sagas take him?
Well. Saga 6, The Thunder Saga closes with Odysseus’ remaining forty-two men being killed by Zeus, The King of The Gods, because they ate the sun’s cows…yes, this does happen in the original poem, too! Saga seven does not start, as you may expect, with a forlorn ballad from our washed up (quite literally, on an island – spoiler alert) hero, but rather with a catchy syth ‘I want’ song from his son. That’s right: six sagas in, we finally get to where the original Odyssey starts, with Prince Telemachus, his mother Penelope, and 108 of what can only be described as the slimiest men in literature, led by Antinuous, who have come to ‘ask’ (read: invade palace, regularly insult the future king and trash the place) Penelope to marry them. Legendary is all you could ask for from an opening song - it’s catchy, mostly cheerful and leaves you with someone to root for, as it leads right into song 2: Little Wolf. This scraps the musical cheer, crumples it into a ball and chucks it, replacing it with a metal-sounding high stakes fight. But that isn’t the best part of this, no sir, because just when you think all hope is lost, guess who shows up? Here’s a clue: she’s unmatched. She’s witty. She’s the queen of the best strategies you’ve ever seen, and she is Athena, returning after a ten-year sulk to rescue the son of her former student. Nevertheless, Telemachus loses, and scurries off with his tail between his legs to trail into song three, We’ll be Fine, a heartwarming duet between Goddess and man to offset the brutal harshness of the song before it. Bonus: Tegan Earley gets to show off the sheer power of her vocal range and – boy - am I jealous. That is an impressive soprano range.
There are no breaks in this, as right after it ends, Athena’s signature piano motif echoes and phases into a musical recap of all the events following her departure in saga two. We go through Aeolus, to Poseidon, to Circe, to the Underworld and Tiresias, to the sirens, to Scylla and finally to Zeus. Then, the cheerfulness resurfaces, with soft synth sounds, eventually blending with Barbara Wangui’s angel voice as Calypso, as we finally see Odysseus stuck on her island for seven tormenting years, finishing with Athena (who has really turned this whole thing around after abandoning him) decides to help.
This brings us to the final, and one of the best, in my humble opinion, of all the songs in this musical: God Games. When Jorge Rivera Herrans talks about the video game inspiration in this show, this is where it’s most prominent. Featuring six levels of gods, Athena has to convince them all to release her hero. The problem? They all hate him. It’s catchy and serious at exactly the same time, with just enough humorous moments to keep someone who prefers comedy engaged. However, the ending isn’t exactly chirpy – with Athena, struck by lightning by her father, begging him to let Odysseus go.
And that was it. Well, it would be it had I written this back in August. But it was November when I started it, so that means I can relieve you of the cliffhanger and tell you this: Odysseus does get released. In the heartbreaking and beautiful Not sorry for Loving You from Barbara Wangui, we see her mourn Odysseus’ departure as we see a whole new side to her: a person abandoned on an island for over a century, falling in love with someone who finally washes ashore and desperately trying to get him to stay, only for him to be determined to return home to his wife. It puts Calypso in a whole new light, but she’s gone, and Odysseus now has to turn his thoughts to the previously mentioned vengeful sea god and how to get home without being murdered by someone who is trying to rival Achilles with the length of a grudge he can hold (16 books to four albums – who do you think wins?). But never fear. Enter Hermes, who flips the mood on its head with the disco song Dangerous, detailing exactly how Odysseus can get home. The return of the Wind Bag, the bag given to Odysseus four sagas ago which his crew then opened and crashed their entire journey. But it’s back, it’s closed, and everyone intends for it to stay that way. We’re going to sail right by Charybdis because this is getting a bit long, and the only important part of it is right at the end. Because. Well. Odysseus may plan to get Odysseus home. Hermes may plan to get Odysseus home. Athena may plan to get Odysseus home. But there is one person who will always attempt to stand in the way of that.
Get in the Water has been a snippet of a song on the internet for a while now, but whether it was popular or not I’m not sure. But now, it stands in its full glory, sung by Steven Rodriguez as Poseidon, dramatic and eerie and a cog in the works that is everybody’s plan. If anybody thought his earlier song Ruthlessness was impressive, then this is beyond compare. Odysseus is beaten, close to drowning when he finally has the idea that got him in this position in the first place – open the bag.
The final song, 600 strike is a very far reach from the original story. I’ll be honest, I’m not a big enough fan of it, to rewatch the livestream to see the animation but from what I gather, the 600 ghosts of Odysseus’ men return briefly to spur our hero on to defeat his nemesis by – get this – trapping them both in a storm and then poking his eye out with a trident. Things really have come full circle, huh (context: Odysseus kills Poseidon's son Polyphemus by poking his eye out with a stick, which is why Poseidon hates him so much). Odysseus has finally become the monster he was prophesied to be.
And that’s where we leave it. I know, cliffhanger, but it shouldn’t be long before the next and final saga releases and we see everybody happy again. In the meantime, if you want the full story, go listen to Sagas 1-8 now. Enjoy.
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