EPIC: The Musical
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EPIC: The Musical is a loose adaptation of Homer's Odyssey[1] that was created by Jorge Rivera-Herrans (general of the 600 winion army), who wrote the music and lyrics, orchestrated, and produced the tracks. His song clips and process videos have gone viral on social media with over 60 million...
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EpicTheMusical Wiki
EPIC: The Musical is a loose adaptation of Homer's Odyssey[1] that was created by Jorge Rivera-Herrans (general of the 600 winion army), who wrote the music and lyrics, orchestrated, and produced the tracks. His song clips and process videos have gone viral on social media with over 60 million views across TikTok, of over 70,000 people who share memes, fan theories, cover songs, positive affirmations, and tattoos of the lyrics.

The Beginning[]

Jorge Rivera-Herrans first started working on the musical around June of 2019 in his college dorms.[2] Originally his senior thesis for college, he wanted to create a musical that was inspired by video games and anime/manga to "emulate their addictive sense of progression"[3]. He was heavily inspired by these forms of media and its effects are seen throughout the musical.[4]

On January 17th, 2021 he uploaded his first video on TikTok where he introduces the musical and sings one of the older drafts of the opening song Full Speed Ahead.[5] Over time he released other clips of songs from the musical that slowly began to garner an audience.

The Process[]

Following his TikTok, there is an entire timeline of his journey through the making of each song up to the release of each saga. He has created videos documenting his process as he goes through the songs, edits and rewrites in the span of about 2 years. He also held auditions over TikTok to find voices for the characters. The first notable audition was for Calypso in April of 2021 following which there have been auditions for Ares, Penelope, Zeus, Tiresias and more. Many of the songs in the musical went through rewrites with some songs being cut and other having been changed to better fit the story and characters.[6] The final draft was completed on the 29th of August, 2022.[7]

The Community[]

Over the course of several years, he has cultivated a large group of supportive cast and community members across several platforms including TikTok, Discord, YouTube, Instagram etc. Some of the notable members of the Epic team include sound mixer JP Warner, as well as the talented cast members from around the world, many of whom auditioned through TikTok, including Teagan Earley (Athena), Steven Dookie (Polites), Luke Holt (Zeus), Armando Julián (Eurylochus), and more.

Other important members of the team are highlighted by Jorge on his TikTok in various clips and in a segment called "APPRECIATION NATION" where he talks about all the people who work hard in the background to make EPIC happen.

Winion Entertainment[]

In 2023, Jorge created his own company, Winion Entertainment LLC, due to Blair Russell (the original producer of EPIC) and his company, Blair Russell Productions, not paying him the royalties for the first two sagas. Under Winion Entertainment, the entire main cast of EPIC came together to re-record the entire musical from scratch; allowing the entire musical, including the previously released Troy and Cyclops Sagas, to be released under the brand.

The creation of Winion Entertainment is also leading to new potential business opportunities for EPIC, such as vinyl sets of the Sagas, merchandise, and even future iterations of the musical (like a stage production or a film adaptation).[10]

Songs[]

Epic is a fully sung through musical consisting of 2 acts with 20 songs per act for a total of 40 songs. Furthermore, each act is divided into "Sagas" or chapters. The entire musical has a runtime of 2 hours and 16 minutes. Act 1 is about 1 hour and 9 minutes long (1:08:32) and consists of 5 sagas (The Troy Saga, The Cyclops Saga, The Ocean Saga, The Circe Saga and The Underworld Saga). Act 2 is about 1 hour and 7 minutes long and consists of 4 sagas (The Thunder Saga, The Wisdom Saga, The Vengeance Saga and The Ithaca Saga).

Sagas[]

Act I (Fully Released) The Troy Saga The Cyclops Saga 1. "The Horse And The Infant" 6. "Polyphemus" 2. "Just A Man" 7. "Survive" 3. "Full Speed Ahead" 8. "Remember Them" 4. "Open Arms" 9. "My Goodbye" 5. "Warrior Of The Mind" The Ocean Saga The Circe Saga 10. "Storm" 14. "Puppeteer" 11. "Luck Runs Out" 15. "Wouldn't You Like" 12. "Keep Your Friends Close" 16. "Done For" 13. "Ruthlessness" 17. "There Are Other Ways" The Underworld Saga 18. "The Underworld" 19. "No Longer You" 20. "Monster" Act II (In Progress) The Thunder Saga (Out Now!) The Wisdom Saga (Out Now!) 21. "Suffering" 26. "Legendary" 22. "Different Beast" 27. "Little Wolf" 23. "Scylla" 28. "We'll Be Fine" 24. "Mutiny" 29. "Love In Paradise" 25. "Thunder Bringer" 30. "God Games" The Vengeance Saga The Ithaca Saga 31. "Not Sorry For Loving You" 36. "The Challenge" 32. "Dangerous" 37. "Hold Them Down" 33. "Charybdis" 38. "Odysseus" 34. "Get In The Water" 39. "I Can't Help But Wonder" 35. "Six Hundred Strike" 40. "Would You Fall In Love With Me Again"

Themes And Musical Language[]

There was a lot of attention to detail put into the creation of the songs of EPIC. Many of the songs draw inspiration from video game characters, epic moments in the media, and movies. Some of the most notable ones are:

When Jorge was younger he watched "Peter and the Wolf" and was inspired by the use of specific instruments to represent each character. As a result, many of the characters in EPIC are represented by specific instruments, including Odysseus (Various guitars, based on context), Athena (Piano, because of the dexterity and skill needed to play piano), Poseidon (Trumpet + Brass Section, that gets more electronic and distorted depending on how angry and wrathful he is), Circe (Strings), Zeus (Electric Bass + Drums), Aeolus (Airy Vocals + Flute), Aphrodite (Saxophone), Hermes (Lyre + Harp), etc. [11]

Furthermore, the more divine the music gets the more electronic elements are heard in the score. The mortals generally get more traditional orchestral music, while the gods get more electronic music.[12]

Vocal backing for the mortal characters usually come from characters present in a given scene like the "CREW" or "SOLDIERS" while backing vocals for the gods come from an ENSEMBLE the god created to emphasize their point or emotions in a given scene,[13] probably based on the chorus common in V century B.C. Greek plays.

The Cast[]

Cast Members Roles Jorge Rivera-Herrans Odysseus, Winions, Polyphemus, Cyclopes, Ensemble Luke Holt Zeus, Elpenor, Ensemble Armando Julian Eurylochus, Ensemble Steven Dookie Polites Teagan Earley Athena Ayron Alexander Perimedes, Antinous, Ensemble Kira Stone Aeolus Steven Rodriguez Poseidon Talya Sindel Circe Troy Doherty Hermes, Ensemble Wanda Herrans Anticlea Mason Olshavsky Tiresias Anna Lea Sirens, Penelope KJ Burkhauser Scylla Miguel Veloso (MICO) Telemachus Barbara Wangui Calypso Brandon McInnis Apollo Mike Rivera Hephaestus Janani K. Jha Aphrodite Earl Gresham Jr. (MocaMedia) Ares, Ensemble POESY Hera ~ Amphinomus ~ Melanthius

References[]