Erica Siaulnski, Staff Writer
Jorge Rivera-Herrans began working on a musical as a senior in college for his senior thesis in 2019. No one could have expected what followed. The musical was originally an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey and Iliad, as well as incorporating different pieces of his favorite video games as a way to express the things he found most interesting. Yet after beginning, Jorge Rivera-Herrans scrapped the idea after struggling to incorporate all important details of both The Odyssey and Iliad. So, he began to work on just releasing a musical about The Odyssey.
The project took a while to begin. The multiple concepts that were to be included were hard to write. On January 17, 2021, Jorge Rivera-Herrans uploaded a video covering a song to the social media platform, Tik Tok, where he gained a bit of a following. He would begin to release videos on Tik Tok from his own musical, and some people began to take a liking to it. They found it entertaining and interesting.
Following this, Jorge began to develop the musical further. After a while it seemed to become less of a project and more of something he and his audience enjoyed. He began to document his extension of the musical, and with feedback from fans, he was able to complete the whole musical in 2023. In the end, the musical ended up becoming a nine-part story that follows Odysseus after the Trojan war and his twenty-year journey home. The musical also explores deeper and darker fears that follow people after war. One fear would be Odysseus’s fears that he would turn into a monster after the horrible things he saw. While also facing mythical creatures such as a Cyclopes, Odysseus faced characters of Greek Mythology and being exposed to the wrath of the Sea God, Poseidon.
The musical was released onto multiple streaming services, and fans thoroughly enjoyed hearing the finished product that had begun as a mere thesis. Fans also, with Jorge Rivera-Herran’s permission, created videos to go along with the songs and further developed the story. While there’s no complete, full-length video that follows the songs from the beginning, there was a video, if not multiple, created for each song.
In September of 2025, the creator announced the release of an official website, with merchandise that fans could purchase on it. Such as vinyl’s, CD’s and jackets. There have also been rumors of a movie being developed out of the musical. Many believe it would become an animated movie rather than becoming a stage musical to be performed by actors and actresses. Yet, there’s no set date for this, and fans are still waiting.
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