#oof-musicals

[dootznbootz]

Penelope is also Athena's pet/blorbo/special little mortal/etc. and if you think otherwise you're straight up wrong.

You're also wrong if you think Athena only likes Penelope because of Odysseus and/or Telemachus. As if Athena didn't see a young Penelope pull some shit and immediately think "Oh! Another mind to mold! C'mere you! Let's do some riddles and weaving!". Athena was happy that two of her favorite pets have met and fell in love!

[secretmellowblog]

Me watching a Wicked bootleg and remembering the bit where they use Nessa's character to speedrun through every offensive trope and stereotype about disabled people:

[perryelornitorrinco]

I needed to do a Link's Awakening animatic or I would explode, it's been for too many months in my head, and after two days glued to my ipad I finally finished this muhehe.

I wanted to use Strawberry Blonde by Mitsky but ugghhh I couldn't think of how to draw it, BUT, I discovered this song like a month ago and couldn't stop thinking about them TAT.

So yeah instead of chapter 2 I give you this wonky ahh animatic that made me cry in various ways instead. HOPE YOU LIKE IT :·3!!!!💖

It's my first time doing a long video with a few gifs and not just a small animation so yeah, expect it to be funny looking XDKJASHK!

[aro-screams-into-the-void]

Poseidon really is tryna do everything in his power to stop Ody from reaching Ithaca huh

[draw-the-squad-like-this]

Draw your squad

[dingoislame]

technically this isnt chansaw 😇

[violetwolfraven]

Wait wait wait remember that post about how Team Starkid/the Lang brothers are going to be comparable to Shakespeare 500 years from now and it was mostly played for laughs like yeah lol you’ll need a paragraph of footnotes to explain the zefron poster but like

I don’t think that’s actually far off from how Starkid’s place in theatre history might play out and here’s why. Just hear me out

Why is Shakespeare so popular today when he definitely wasn’t the only playwright from that era? When he’s not even the only playwright from that era from England that we have surviving works from?

Two main reasons:

1) Shakespeare’s work is (relatively) universally relatable. The characters do things that are so fundamentally human. They make jokes at their friends’ expense. They complain about being awkward in front of their crush. They have daddy issues. The plot lines of the plays aren’t too complicated. The dick jokes land whether you’re watching in 1611 or 2024, and they probably still will in 2637. Shakespeare’s works are timeless because he didn’t try to outsmart his audience. He wrote about things everyone could relate to rather than trying too hard to peacock his intellect in front of the nobility. This is not true of every playwright.

2) Shakespeare was really popular right around the time England started colonizing everything in sight. Copies of his work got shipped all around the world, translated into dozens of languages, performed probably thousands of times. Setting aside the moral implications of this, the important thing to note is that Shakespeare was about the most easily accessible English playwright during a time of rapid, intense globalization.

Meanwhile, Starkid:

1) Invests hard in meaningful, relatable character arcs instead of spectacle and expensive sets or costumes. Also, lowbrow, immature humor and dick jokes that make A Very Potter Sequel funny and enjoyable regardless of if you’ve ever seen any other Harry Potter media in your life.

2) Posts professional recordings of their musicals to YouTube FOR FREE, making their shows about the easiest, best quality musical theatre you can get pretty much anywhere in the world, regardless of if your area has an active theatre scene. Proshots from other companies are rare and usually not free. Bootlegs are all well and good, but even if the video quality is alright (and that’s a big if) the audio is usually garbage. Starkid has been posting the best quality free recordings they can afford since 2009, shortly after the birth of social media, another time of rapid, intense globalization.

In short, I’m not saying that theatre historians in 500 years won’t remember any our current Broadway faves, but I am saying that in my opinion, Team Starkid is probably going to be more accessible for the general public. If you’re a 26th century English teacher trying to teach your class about narrative structure in 21st century theatre, what are you going to show your students? A bootleg of Hadestown with blurry video and garbage audio? Or the professional recording of Twisted, parts of which they will probably even enjoy, because even long after no one remembers Disney’s Aladdin anymore, your class of 26th century 16-year-olds are still going to laugh at “No One Remembers Achmed.”

[rustic-space-fiddle]

I absolutely cannot deal with the way Calypso’s “/stay in my open arms-” triggered memories of Polites and his song. I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT DEAL

[queenmuzz]

Ares watching Odysseus slaughter all the suitors squatting in his house: PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE LET ME BE HIS PATRON GOD!

Hermes, watching as Odysseus tricking the suitors that he’s a harmless old man to get into his palace: I think I’d be a better patron, plus I’m his great-grandfather.

Hera, watching as Odysseus does all this to see his wife and son again after two decades of voyaging: AHEM.

[v3eil]

* Sorry! I just said whatever came to mind.

Better late than never I guess.

Saw this thing on pinterest and immediately felt them

[dootznbootz]

that WHO in no longer u oh my GOD

YESSSS

Like, yeah, Odysseus is like "Yandere" (joking but also not) because kills all who even go near Penelope and Telemachus and he's very protective of them AND jealous.

But I think this "WHO?!" is also a desperate plea as to who is this dangerous man who is near his wife? A warlord? A conquerer? A man who would not even care about Penelope for who she is and mistreats her?

Because even in the Odyssey, Odysseus asks about Penelope to his mother.

Tell me of the wife I married. What are her thoughts and plans? Is she still there with our son, keeping watch on everything? Or has she been married                            to the finest of Achaeans?

(Book 11, Johnston)

There's not even much resentment in his question. There could be but Narrator does not say. The use of "the finest of Achaeans" almost is a "Did she at least marry the best man? Did she at least marry a GOOD man?"

In "No Longer You", when he hears of this dangerous man NEAR his wife, he is SCARED. It could be jealousy but I feel it's more of concern. As it is in the Odyssey.

"I understand if she would remarry, it pains me but I did tell her that when Telemachus finally grows his beard, she could. I will love her always but is she at least happy? Is she safe?"

And she's not safe. She's not happy. He is terrified.

Psst. The reason why My Odysseus takes a long time to grow his beard is because of that line. He's hoping that his son will take after him and take forever to grow a beard like he did (as he doesn't really have one even when he first leaves for Troy) because he would try forever to get home. Penelope even teases him that he still doesn't have one so that's a silly request and that's the point. "I will never stop trying to come back to you. He and I will likely remain beardless forever." (it's a little funky for him when he finally grows one by the end of Troy. He's thinking "...Shit. Telemachus, stay baby-faced for your dad please.")

ANYWAYS.

I mean we all know that these two are obsessed with each other in the Odyssey and in Epic. They are likeminded and are so integral to who they are. They mean everything to one another. I think Odysseus genuinely does want Penelope happy. As even in the Odyssey with him simply asking for another bed, shows how much he loves and respects her. He could've been like "get in it" even though she had rejected him at first but he LISTENS BECAUSE HE LOVES HER. Only breaking down into a sobbing mess when he believes she destroyed their bed.

"Heaven made you as you are, but for sheer obstinacy you put all the rest of your sex in the shade. No other wife could have steeled herself to keep so long out of the arms of a husband she had just got back after nineteen years of misadventure. Well, nurse, make a bed for me to sleep alone in. For my wife's heart is just about as hard as iron."

(Book 23, Rieu)

Please note that this is his attempt to insult her in a way and yet he still talks about her being from Heaven 👀 SIMP

But even though he's deeply hurt by her rejection (poor guy would've probably sobbed himself to sleep) He still asks for another bed. After sleeping on the floor and in the dirt since he's been on Ithaca, refusing beds unless it's his own marriage bed, he takes her 'no' because he values her happiness and comfort over his own. He takes a lesser bed so she can still sleep in their own luxurious one.

I mean we know how fucking awful the suitors are. Hold Them Down is a disturbing song. (as it should be. As they are not good men) He does not even know how bad these men are yet. If his future self could speak with his past self, he'd probably be like "Yeah, don't worry about the guy who kills a bunch of people, they had it coming. ;) " or something.

That "WHO?!" is a mix of jealousy AND fear.

[deadmomjokes]

Yesterday I was flipping radio stations while waiting at a red light when I hear a deeply offended gasp from the back seat.

"No, don't switch it!! Turn it up!"

I do, in fact, turn it up, only to learn via the radio display that it's a song by Rage Against the Machine. (Note: I know exactly no songs by Rage Against the Machine, they're just not my cup of tea.) And my child-- my four year old child who, by her own choice that day, was wearing a fluffy pink flower skirt and sparkly cowboy boots-- takes in the screamy, guitar-smashy chaos, gives the most contented sigh of approval, and says,

"Awwww yeah, I LIKE this one!"

And starts head banging in her car seat.

[talking-2-the-wall]

odysseus: would you fell in loveeee with me again? if you knew all I've doneee? the things i ca--

penelope: no

odysseus:

[instantfoxdonut]

not me low key becoming obsessed with epic the musical

LIKE OMG- THE MUSIC- THE ANIMATICS MAN-

IM NOT CRAZY ITS JUST SO AGGGHHHH

THESE IS LITERALLY ME RN I SWEAR

I HAVE NEVER LOVED MUSICALS THIS MUCH BEFORE BRO-

I FUCKING LOVE THIS MAN

[a-bottle-of-tyelenol]

Before I knew the context of God Games and where it would be placed in the show, I always imagined it as some kind of trial in Olympus where Odysseus is actually physically there. Specifically, I thought it would be the trial on whether or not Zeus kills him (along with the others who have already been killed) for slaughtering Helios’ cows.

For a long time, I couldn’t actually figure out where Calypso’s island would take place and, while it’s obvious in hindsight, these are thoughts from like three years ago and I basically thought Athena would win the debate, which means Ody lives, but that Zeus traps him to her island or something for the remainder of his punishment. All I knew at the time was that God Games would realistically take place after the cows and I knew, in the Odyssey, Zeus basically lets Odysseus live purely on the basis that he didn’t do anything wrong objectively— he was asleep while the crew ate the cows— and Zeus is an arbiter of justice so he does attempt to keep things fair. I thought it made enough sense that he’d give Odysseus a trial and that Athena would show up with arguments as to why he deserves to be released despite his involvement (we didn’t have much of Mutiny’s context at the time either and I figured Jorge might change some stuff).

And while I don’t think this makes much sense now, I still think it’s a cool idea and visual to imagine all of these gods going back and forth over his questionable decisions while he’s literally right there. The gods tossing about a chained up Odysseus, forcing him to face everything he’s done across the show MOMENTS after he’s seen his crew be killed in front of him.

Actually brutal ngl

[raointean]