To Have on Your Radar: EPIC, the Musical

The Internet has changed the way that so many businesses operate. Several famous artists got their start on YouTube, including Justin Beiber, Dua Lipa and Ed Sheeran. TikTok brought us Addison Rae and both D’Amelio sisters. And we know that TikTok is changing book promotion and sales with BookTok. But did you know that an entire musical is being released online and teens and young adults consider it all the rage?

Both of my girls are musical theatre kids and so are most of their friends, which is how I came to know about EPIC: THE MUSICAL. Epic is a musical being released in segments on TikTok. It has not been performed on any stage, it’s the concept of a musical if you will. But the tracks being released over time are fully produced – and actually pretty amazing. The musical itself is divided into sagas and their is concept art for each saga.

Epic is an adaptation of Homer’s THE ODYESSY (so, literary tie-in!) created by  Jorge Rivera-Herrans. The first songs were released back in 2021 and new songs are still being released. In fact, the last song is due to be released today! You can find a playlist of all of the songs in order on Spotify or Apple Music. Of course one of the best ways to listen to the musical is how it is being released, and that’s on TikTok.

EPIC is a fully sung-through musical consisting of 2 acts with 20 songs per act for a total of 40 songs. Each act is divided into “Sagas” or chapters, which are currently being released as individual albums. The entire musical has a runtime of 2 hours and 22 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). Source: https://epicthemusical.fandom.com/wiki/EPIC:_The_Musical

I found the musical through Instagram. A lot of people listen to it. There are people all over Instagram making fan art. He (Rivera-Herrans) was actually my 3rd highest artist on Spotify. The music quality and story are both really good. – Riley Jensen

This is a great programming tie in for your musical theatre kids or even your mythology fan kids, like fans of the Percy Jackson series. Play the musical in the background while you do your programming events. Trivia, escape rooms, and crafts are all great ways you can engage teens with their love of mythology or musical theatre.

It’s also a reminder to us that we need to go to the places where our teens are. Many of the people important to our teens today are not being discovered on traditional channels. They are famous on social media long before we ever hear about them in the mainstream press. It’s important that we pay attention and engage to best serve our teens.

So as you enter this week of holiday celebrations, take a moment to listen to EPIC: THE MUSICAL . . . It’s incredibly amazing. And chances are, many of your teens already are. Impress them with your knowledge and let them know that you’re paying attention.

Filed under: Music