The newest installment or ‘saga’ of the up-and-coming musical “EPIC: The Musical” was released on Oct. 31 on all platforms and was live-streamed the night before by the creator Jorge Rivera-Herrans on YouTube. The show, told through song, is based on the classical story of the Odyssey with only one saga to go.
The saga that was released is titled “The Vengeance Saga,” and it consists of five songs called “Not Sorry for Loving You,” “Dangerous,” “Charybdis,” “Get in the Water,” and “Six Hundred Strike.” This specific saga tells listeners of Odysseus’ journey from Calypso’s Island to his home island of Ithaca.
Beginning with “Not Sorry for Loving You,” the song stars the voice of Calypso, Barbara Wangui, as she tells Odysseus that she is sorry if she came onto him too strong but is not sorry for loving him. The song itself is very well designed and the chorus with the ensemble makes the song much more dynamic, but the entire reason that Calypso is singing it is a bit ridiculous.
The next song, “Dangerous,” sung by Hermes’ voice actor, Troy Doherty, is by far one of the best songs of the saga with upbeat instrumentals and catchy lyrics. The song also brings back motifs from previous songs. My only critique with the song is that I’d like to hear more of the instrumentals with the vocals to increase the impact on listeners.
“Charybdis” is the next song named after the monster Charybdis that Odysseus has to evade in order to get back to Ithaca. Odysseus’ voice actor and the show’s creator, Jorge Rivera-Herrans, perfectly encapsulates the character’s desperation and determination to get home after twenty years away.
In the next song, Poseidon’s voice, by Steven Rodriguez, uses a deep and guttural voice that shows all of Poseidon’s emotions to listeners and does a great job shouting “Get in the Water” scarily to Odysseus.
“Six Hundred Strike” is this boss battle song which uses themes people usually hear in video games and anime intros, and is breathtakingly intense.
Overall, the Vengeance Saga of “EPIC: The Musical” is beautifully written, perfectly portrayed by the creator and all the voice actors and is a great addition to the ultimate story of the musical.
