Album Review: EPIC: The Musical’s Ithaca Saga ★★★★★

EPIC: The Musical released The Ithaca Saga on December 25.

Content warning: This article briefly describes sexual assault and violence.

Explaining the saga

Odysseus is home. After fighting in a war for ten years, then monsters, gods and growing guilt for another decade. His queen Penelope and son Telemachus are waiting in Ithaca with 108 suitors plotting to take the throne. The situation is dire. But Odysseus is ready.

The Challenge

The build-up to the first song of the final saga began in the first song of EPIC, The Horse and the Infant. The musical’s important characters have their own instrument and motif to signify their presence or when someone is thinking about them. Penelope’s viola motif plays whenever Odysseus sings or thinks about her.

So, fittingly, her motif opens The Challenge. Anna Lea Casey sings strongly throughout the song and shows Penelope’s determination and worry towards the increasingly dangerous suitors.

Strings for Penelope and a guitar for Odysseus pair so well with the lyrics. And the ensemble of suitors shows the intensity of their presence and threat.

The lyrics, instruments and vocals of The Challenge truly bring justice to Penelope’s strength.

Hold Them Down

The suitors try to string Odysseus’ bow to complete Penelope’s challenge designed to fail.

Antinous, voiced by Ayron Alexander, rallies the suitors to abandon this challenge because Penelope is stalling them.

He crafts a plan to kill Telemachus and assault Penelope.

The song begins with a viola to symbolise Penelope and appears again later in the song.

This song is chilling with the suitors voices banding together and singing slowly to intensify their words. And the drum beat in the background works with this.

Odysseus

The transition from Hold Them Down to Odysseus is seamless.

The king of Ithaca strikes. Odysseus kills Antinous and condemns the suitors for their treatment of his family and their home.

Odysseus’ electric guitar motif plays and in the background an ensemble chants Odysseus’ name, in the “danger is nearby motif” he is the final boss fight.

The chant refers to previous “boss fight” songs, Polyphemus and Ruthlessness.

Odysseus kills suitors left, right and centre and vanishes without a trace.

The fear in the suitors voices emphasises their helplessness against Odysseus who not only knows the palace better, but has also hidden their weapons.

Telemachus attacks two suitors who discovered the unlocked armoury. Athena is on his side, the listener knows this when they hear her “projection” sound. This is when she projects her appearance to a different location.

A symphony of instruments accompanies Telemachus: combining Athena’s piano, Telemachus’ motif from Legendary and strings. The prince of Ithaca comes into his own, and a new motif is born.

Odysseus’ voice is hoarse with anger and fatigue. Jorge’s performance in this song is unforgettable.

The song ends with his name sung in the same way as the chorus in No Longer You, proving that the prophecy was fulfilled.

I Can’t Help But Wonder

A group of strings play a part of Odysseus’ motif, followed by and indie piano playing Telemachus’ motif.

He calls out to his father. A soft string guitar plays with a gentle beat from a piano. Telemachus sings about how he has thought about meeting his father and wondering if they are alike.

A chorus sings quietly in the background and makes the song feel peaceful.

Odysseus rejoices in seeing his son and how he has grown. He wonders about how alone Telemachus has felt in the last twenty years.

The two embrace and sing in gladness at their reunion.

I Can’t Help but Wonder brings a tear to your eye and relief to your heart.

As Telemachus leaves to tell Penelope her husband is home, Athena’s projection plays. The song references Warrior of the Mind with Odysseus looking for Athena.

She has had time to reflect on her ideals and mentorship of Odysseus. Was she wrong to only allow cold-heartedness, and leave no room for mercy or nuance? Is a world without hate possible?

Her motif plays in a higher note, showing how she has become kinder.

Odysseus knows if there is a merciful world, it is not for him after all that has happened.

He leaves Athena to find Penelope.

Would You Fall in Love with Me Again

Odysseus and Penelope have not seen each other in twenty years.

Her viola motif plays as Odysseus opens their bedroom door. Odysseus’ acoustic guitar plays while Penelope sings.

He asks if she could still love him after he caused the deaths of so many people during the Trojan War and his journey home. Instead of his emotional acoustic guitar, an electric guitar plays softly in the same way as Monster when Odysseus decided to abandon mercy in his journey home.

Penelope uses her cunning to be certain that she is speaking to her husband. She asks him to move their wedding bed that was carved from an olive tree. But it’s impossible. The bed would have to be cut from the roots. Only Penelope and Odysseus know this.

He responds strongly with a raised voice, to which Penelope does the same as she tells him that she knows for certain who he is.

Penelope tells Odysseus with strong emotion in her voice that she will always fall in love with Odysseus no matter the time spent apart, or what had happened.

Just a Man reprises in the ruthless triplets, symbolising Odysseus’ change and how he and Penelope have accepted it. The trumpets evoke a feeling of triumph and a high tempo piano heightens the emotions of the song.

This song is the longest of the musical and is emotional and completes the story with a satisfying ending.

Final Thoughts

The Ithaca Saga was intense, powerful and emotional; making it a perfect end to this musical.

The singers’ voices matched the lyrics flawlessly as they gave emotional performances. With deep and immersive storytelling.

Like all sagas, there were some bits that could have been better, but the songs were consistently well-composed and written.

The Ithaca Saga ties up loose ends and refers to previous songs and events, showing the consequences of the story’s events and character development.

EPIC: The Musical has become increasingly popular in recent months with people streaming songs from 183 countries, and surpassing Wicked as the most streamed album on iTunes. Within 24 hours.

All of the nine sagas are available to listen to on all major music streaming platforms, and behind-the-scenes knowledge can be found on Jorge Rivera-Herrans’ YouTube channel.

Featured Image Credit: EPIC: The Musical Wiki