WISH-LIST WEDNESDAY: Epic The Musical
- James Tradgett
- Jul 15
- 2 min read
MUSIC & LYRICS: Jorge Rivera-Herrans
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We turn this week once again to the world of recorded media, and a sung-through musical that has yet to be staged, but exists solely as a concept album. With a story that comprises millennia old stories from ancient civilisation, this is a musical that is an amalgamation of the old and the new, having been produced independently, cast online, and marketed solely on social media, with critics praising how it honours the source material whilst simultaneously bringing it to a modern audience with great success. Not only this, but it draws inspiration from a wide variety of genres media, such as electronic, orchestral, rock and pop music, as well as the work of Lin-Manuel Miranda, video games and anime, to create something truly, as the title would have one believe, epic!
The musical is an interpretation of the epic poem "The Odyssey" by Greek writer Homer, released in nine parts, or sagas, over the course of two years, with act 1 comprising the "Troy", "Cyclops", "Ocean", "Circe" and "Underworld" sagas, and the second act completed by those of "Thunder", "Wisdom", "Vengeance" and "Ithaca". Rather than being a direct adaptation of the almost 3,000 year old epic work, it condenses the events, making them more bite sized, focussing on the overriding theme of ruthlessness, and fitting the events into a far more theatrical style.
What the musical's writer Jorge Rivera-Herrans has done so masterfully is create a distinctive, highly cinematic soundscape that, through its impressive blending of electronic and orchestral music elements, fully immerses you in the world of the Heroic Age of Ancient Greek Mythology. And the fan response has been enormous, with the first "Troy" saga reaching over 3 million streams within its opening week of release, and reaching second in the Billboard cast album chart (behind "Hamilton"), and every subsequent saga topping the chart the week of its release. With the news that director Jerry Bruckheimer is to produce the animated film adaptation, the question remains: will this epic new musical be adapted to the stage any time soon? I guess we'll just have to wait and see!
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You can purchase the individual saga albums and other merch, as well as sign up for future updates, via the official Epic website.
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