What happens when Homer’s Odyssey gets the energy of a Hip-Hop music video?

On this episode of NEW@NAMT, host Jean-Paul Yovanoff and co-host Skye Cone Ivey sit down with writers Fermin Suero Jr. and Pete White to talk about BLUDLINE: A Hip-Hop Odyssey, their new musical reimagining of Homer’s epic through live Hip-Hop and R&B—and one of eight musicals selected for NAMT’s 38th Annual Festival of New Musicals. Odysseus battles monsters and temptations on his journey home while his son, Telemachus, struggles to find his own identity in the shadow of a legendary father.

Fermin and Pete share how a desire to bring trap music and contemporary Hip-Hop culture into musical theatre became the starting point for their collaboration, and why The Odyssey turned out to be the perfect vehicle. What began as a musical inspired by Fermin’s own experiences growing up in New Jersey evolved into an epic story with bigger dramatic stakes—beginning with the image of Odysseus celebrating victory in the Trojan War with the swagger and energy of a Hip-Hop video.

The conversation also digs into the writers’ decision to place Odysseus and Telemachus on parallel journeys, using the father-son relationship to explore how ideas about masculinity, violence and power can be passed from one generation to the next.

NAMT Festival Consultant Kathleen Wrinn joins the conversation to talk about what made BLUDLINE stand out during this year’s Festival selection process and what she sees in the musical’s future. Fermin and Pete also look back on a development journey that includes the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, Pipeline Arts Foundation, Drama Club Camp and the 2026 Richard Rodgers Award, while looking ahead to the next stage of the piece.

An ancient epic. A modern sound. Fathers, sons, monsters—and the cycles we inherit.

BLUDLINE: A Hip-Hop Odyssey
Book, Music & Lyrics by Fermin Suero Jr. & Pete White

A five-track BLUDLINE mixtape EP is available now through Joy Machine Records, featuring performers including Okieriete Onaodowan, Daniel J. Watts, Alaman Diadhiou and Phil Richardson.

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More about BLUDLINE: A HIP-HOP ODYSSEY:

https://namt.org/musicals/bludline-a-hip-hop-odyssey/

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https://www.instagram.com/ferminsuerojr/

Follow Pete:

https://www.instagram.com/petewhitesongs/

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