Summary
The first saga of act two of EPIC: The Musical has arrived
July 4 marks the release of Epic: The Musical’s Thunder Saga.
Explaining the saga
After finding out how to return home to Ithaca, Odysseus and his dwindling crew members face sirens, sea monsters, betrayal and the king of the gods in the second act’s first saga.
The musical, which is an adaptation of the Odyssey, is divided into two acts; the first with five sagas and the second with four.
The Act Two sagas all have five songs.
The first two slightly differ from the Odyssey itself with Odysseus’ wife, Penelope playing an important role.
Suffering
The saga opens with an electronic chorus singing “Penelope” in the melody that Odysseus has sung in past songs. However, listeners can quickly sense something is off. It’s Penelope’s voice, but not in the way she has sung before. And she is singing her own name.
The lyrics consist of Odysseus and Penelope speaking back and forth. Penelope tries to convince Odysseus to join her in the water, when he resists saying that he doesn’t want to get wet. She then tells Odysseus to join her and their daughter. But they only have a son; adding to the listeners’ suspicions.
Penelope says that she will “take the suffering from you.” Going from would, to can, to will. As her words become more forceful, she sounds less and less like Penelope.
Odysseus than asks how he would escape Poseidon, the god of the sea who is hunting him. She tells him to go to the sea monster, Scylla’s lair. Poseidon would not follow him there. Odysseus realises he would lose more of his crew if he did this.
Odysseus’ lyrics are accompanied by his signature acoustic guitar melody. But Penelope’s viola is absent when she sings. Instead, there are castanets and electronic elements to her music. The latter of which is used to orchestrate gods or monsters.
Different Beast
The next song opens with screams and Odysseus putting an end to the conversation. He knows the voices are sirens, not Penelope. And states that Penelope knows he wasn’t scared of water, or that they didn’t have a daughter.
Odysseus reveals that he captured the other sirens and he and the crew blocked their ears with beeswax. Odysseus read the siren’s lips to figure out the next steps in their journey home.
Following with the title, Odysseus and his men are “different beasts now.” After realising that showing mercy to their enemies in the past was costing them their lives, Odysseus made the decision to spare no foe in their journey home. This ominous line is backed by the ensemble of crewmen and overpowering drums.
When the sirens beg for mercy, Odysseus orders the crew to cut off their tails and to let them drown. The coldness in the delivery of his lines shows that Odysseus is no longer showing lenience to anyone who crosses him. In order to return home, he must become ruthless. Or else, his enemies could find him again.
The remaining part of the song is made up of the soldiers calling themselves “man-made monsters” (a reference to Odysseus choosing to become a monster to protect himself and his crew) and the shrill screams of the sirens as they die.
Scylla
The sailors enter the lair of the sea monster Scylla. Who has the upper body of a woman but her lower half being made of six man-eating serpents and vicious dog heads along her sides.
Odysseus knows this is the only way out. Because of her six heads, six crew men will die. But it is that or everyone dies in a storm sent by Poseidon.
Eurylochus, the second in command, tells Odysseus that he has a secret he can no longer keep. He confesses to opening the bag of wind that Aeolus, the wind god, gave to the crew to stop the storms. Accompanying his words, is Scylla (voiced by KJ Burkhauser) telling him that he is a monster like him for what he did, and that he is breaking bonds with his actions.
In the musical, the composer, Jorge Rivera-Herrans uses different melodies and musical motifs to accompany different characters and settings. The “danger is nearby” motif starts playing on drums with a rapid fiddle melody as Scylla comes into view.
As she attacks the crew, her terrifying lyrics sound inhuman and warped. That is because Rivera-Herrans duplicated her vocal lines and harmonised them so they had a creepy echo to them. This pairs perfectly with the singer’s aggressive and ragged singing.
Mutiny
Eurylochus confronts Odysseus after the attack, begging to know if going that way was intentional. Now unable to see more of his friends die at Odysseus’ hand, Eurylochus attacks, blaming Odysseus’ longing for home for his disregard for his crew.
Odysseus’ motif plays, but on an electric guitar; played when he is being cunning or in a fight. The soldiers chant the duellers’ names against a high tempo rhythm.
The lyrics and the music create a tense and energetic fight scene. There is a stabbing sound and a beat that resembles a heart. The listener thinks Odysseus has bested Eurylochus, but in the end, the crew stab Odysseus. They are no longer loyal to him. The crew sing to the melody of Luck Runs Out, a song in the Ocean Saga which starts to show Eurylochus doubt Odysseus. The lyrics “your luck’s run out” and “you relied on wit and then we died on it” are references to previous lyrics. When Eurylochus was worried that Odysseus mistakes would come back to haunt him. This choice in melody and lyrics loops back to a time where bonds between the men were different from now.
Later, the ship lands on the island of Thrinakia: the island where the sun god, Helios keeps his sacred cattle.
Starving from sailing and battle, the crew are relieved to find this seemingly easy prey. Eurylochus tells Odysseus about the herd and a statue he found of Helios. This is in the melody of the musical’s first song, The Horse and the Infant; where Zeus gives Odysseus an ultimatum: either kill Hector’s infant son, or let him grow up to kill Odysseus’ family in vengeance. The choice of the melody shows the imminent danger Eurylochus is unaware of. Just as Odysseus was unaware of the danger that was coming until Zeus explained who he must kill.
The song calls back to Luck Runs Out again, with the two going back and forth like they did in that song.
Eurylochus kills a cow which brings a foreboding chorus, warning of the danger they are now in. This is sung in the “danger is nearby” motif. The electric guitar from earlier plays, bringing Odysseus back into a leading role amongst the chaos.
Then a clap of thunder rings.
Thunder Bringer
Zeus needs no introduction. Because he is a god his orchestration has electronic elements. Electronic brass, drums and an ensemble with thunder strikes signal his arrival. He spends the first verse establishing his presence before even acknowledging the men below him.
The god of lightning is infamous for his lecherous nature. He compares pride to “a damsel in distress” who cannot hide from him and who he controls. To him, the doomed crew cannot escape after killing the cattle. He is going to “apply pressure” to reveal Odysseus’ true nature later in the song.
He then addresses Odysseus with a high and mighty tone, alluding to the idea that he must either choose his life or his crew’s.
Once again, Zeus gives Odysseus an impossible choice: escape alone, or let his whole crew die. The men he went to war with twelve years ago. As Zeus explains Odysseus’ role in this decision, a piano and strings play. These could be a reference to his former mentor, Athena and his wife Penelope. Athena encouraged ruthlessness towards enemies, but also supported camaraderie. She would have wanted him to sacrifice himself for the greater good. The strings show Odysseus is thinking about Penelope, who he would finally see again if he choose himself.
Odysseus pleads, “Please don’t make me do this” like he did in the first song.
The soldiers sing in a chorus lyrics from Just A Man, showing introspection into when your actions go too far. When a sacrifice is too great or necessary. Against this, lyrics from suffering sung by “Penelope” remind Odysseus why he needs to live.
In a heart-breaking moment, Eurylochus calls to Odysseus in desperation. Rivera-Herrans, who plays Odysseus, replies with a breaking voice, “I have to see her.” sealing the crew’s fate as he makes his decision. He knows what this means, the crew brought this upon themselves, they betrayed him. But it still pains him to let them die.
Ultimately, Zeus creates a storm killing the crew and casting Odysseus to Ogygia. Which will become the next part of his long journey home.
Final Thoughts
The Thunder Saga perfectly opens the second act of the musical by calling back to older songs and foreshadowing the rest of the show. The songs are catchy, story-driven and full of suspense and action.
The lyrics are emotive and the orchestration is, as before, illustrative and diverse with its storytelling.
One example being Zeus’ electronic brass, which could be a reference to his brother, Poseidon’s trumpet and brass orchestration.
All songs from the first six sagas are available to listen to on all major streaming platforms. Including YouTube
You can also follow the progress of the musical as well as learn behind the scenes information on EPIC’s YouTube channel.
Featured Image Credit: Epic: The Musical Official Concept Album
Third year journalism student. 2025/2026 Lifestyle and Comment Editor at Brig. Published in The Yucatán Times, Mi Campeche and The Mourning Paper. Host of From the 40s with Air3Radio.
