WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! 

(For an epic poem that’s been available for 2000 years!!!)

EPIC the Musical is a sung-through musical adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, by American composer and playwright Jorge Rivera-Herrans. Rivera-Herrans started work on the musical in 2019, and he began posting clips of the songs on TikTok, where the project gained a large following. 

EPIC has been released in separate EP’s called “sagas.” The full musical contains nine sagas in total. The first saga was released on December 25, 2022, and as of September 2024, six sagas have been released.

The Internet is in love with EPIC. The songs quickly climb the charts every time a new saga is released. And I have to admit that I love this musical, too. It’s a really impressive project, with some insanely catchy songs. 

BUT.

This musical is far from perfect, and it baffles me that I can’t find anyone else talking about its glaring issues. I have never seen the Internet almost unanimously agree on how much they adore something. 

I have read ONE review that gave it a 9/10, but only because of the pacing. ONE slightly negative review. EPIC is literally an enigma. 

For a little background, the Odyssey is an ancient Greek epic poem. The story essentially revolves around the hero Odysseus, who is trying to find his way back home after the Trojan War. He’s lost at sea for ten years. 

Now, if you’re asking how an artist could possibly fit ten years into the two-hour runtime of a musical, the answer is that you can’t. Rivera-Herrans calls EPIC a “loose adaptation” of the Odyssey, which is partially true. 

There are story elements that have been changed, or cut completely, but I wouldn’t really call it a loose adaptation. The biggest problem with EPIC is that it follows the source material too closely.

There is so much happening. All the time. 

This isn’t how a sung-through musical should work. You have to let your audience (in this case, your listeners) have a moment to breathe. 

This is especially evident in “The Thunder Saga,” which is quite possibly the hardest saga to follow. We go from a siren attack, to a mutiny, to an encounter with a sea monster, to Odysseus’ entire crew being killed by Zeus. And all of this happens over five 3-minute songs. 

Also, I don’t know if I’m going insane, but Rivera-Herrans could afford to cut the entire fourth and fifth sagas. Instead of two whole side-quests, he could have included some songs that really develop these characters. There are indeed several songs like this, and the musical does a good job of showing character growth, but I just feel like it’s too on-the-nose sometimes. 

Yes, conflict is the driving force of a story, but this story has PLENTY available in its other sagas. Rivera-Herrans is clearly a very talented songwriter and playwright, so I refuse to believe that he couldn’t have adapted this poem without these needless side-quests for Odysseus. 

If there was more time dedicated to the internal obstacles Odysseus faces, and his relationships with other characters, his development would feel more natural, and his losses would hit harder. 

For example, I don’t think anyone was shedding tears when Odysseus’ BEST FRIEND dies in the second saga. Maybe Rivera-Herrans didn’t intend for this to be a super emotional moment, but it’s clearly meant to be a catalyst for Odysseus’ character development. But this whole moment just doesn’t work. 

We never see Odysseus grieve?! That’s crazy, dude! How is no one talking about this?! 

This pacing works in the Odyssey, because the story was recited orally, meaning that the people who performed it would want to focus on the exciting parts. But in nearly every other medium of storytelling, this is not going to fly. 

Rivera-Herrans has said he is considering many options about what to do with EPIC after it has been fully released. Whichever medium he chooses, he’s going to have to fix this issue.

If you’ve ever taken a creative writing course, you’ve probably heard this quote attributed to Vladimir Nabokov: “The writer’s job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them.” 

In this case, the issue isn’t throwing the rocks, it’s deciding which rocks to throw. Although the fourth and fifth sagas would be the easiest to cut, if you think about it, you could really eliminate any two of them. 

Adapting a text as dense and well-known as the Odyssey is not an easy task by any means, and it is incredible what Rivera-Herrans has managed to achieve with EPIC. Like I said, I like it a lot, but this one issue is nerfing the rest of the musical so hard. 

But despite this, I think all of you should check out EPIC. There is a reason why everyone loves this show so much. The music is memorable, the performances are impressive, and overall, it’s a wonderful example of how old stories still hold up to the present day. 

The songs can be found on every major music streaming platform. Go give them a listen, and tell me if you agree with my grievances!