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Live from Mount Olympus, the award-winning podcast for kids and families, has announced that its 7th seaon will be a musical, telling the dramatic stories of divine twins Apollo, god of music, and Artemis, goddess of the hunt.
The seventh season of the podcast features new original songs in each episode and debuts Tuesday, May 12, with episodes rolling out each week through June 23. Tony-, Emmy-, and Grammy Award winner André De Shields (Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Hadestown) returns as godspod host Hermes, god of storytellers, travelers, and thieves, and also plays Eris, goddess of discord. Tony-nominated Ato Blankson-Wood (Cabaret, Hamlet, Slave Play) voices Apollo.
In “Live from Mount Olympus: Apollo & Artemis”, Apollo, god of music, has just dropped his latest single, “Dragon Slayer.” Together, Hermes and Apollo spin marvelous tales of giants and monsters, jealous gods and greedy kings. Yet at its heart, the season is about siblinghood – Apollo and his twin sister Artemis, goddess of all wild things, the moon, and the hunt. Like most brothers and sisters, these divine twins love each other and also drive each other crazy. Apollo counts on Artemis’s level-headed leadership when his impulsive bravado leads to terrible consequences, and Artemis is always ready to leap to Apollo’s side in battle — back to back, bows up. But when Apollo’s jealousy makes him commit an act of terrible cruelty against his sister, he must seek his sister’s forgiveness – or risk the destruction of all of Olympus.
An enthralling adventure for tweens and listeners of all ages, Live from Mount Olympus – which just won a Kidscreen Award for Best Podcast (Kids) – weaves timeless Greek myths with the artistry of foremost contemporary theater-makers and the imaginative power of audio. With episodes downloaded more than 2.3 million times, the critically-acclaimed series is available free on-demand on all major podcast platforms.
With engaging performances, dynamic original songs and world-building sound design, Live from Mount Olympus brings Greek myths into the 21st Century, underscoring that wherever the gods move, stories are born. The podcast is a production of the Onassis Foundation and distributed by Pulitzer-winning public media organization PRX, one of the world’s top podcast publishers. The richly-imagined audio drama is created and produced by Peabody Award-winning showrunner Julie Burstein, co-produced by Brooklyn-based theater ensemble The TEAM, and directed by Tony Award-winner Rachel Chavkin (Lempicka, Hadestown) and Josiah Davis (Mary Gets Hers) with original songs and score composed by Magda Giannikou (Banda Magda), Karen Brooks Hopkins, president emerita of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, is executive producer. The podcast also features talented actors from New York-based Epic Theatre Ensemble.
“In deference to the great history of theater making over centuries, it seems both appropriate and dramatically thrilling to wrap up our seventh and final season of Live From Mount Olympus with … a musical! And, as Greek myths originated in the way all ancient stories have done, as oral histories passed down through the ages, we are honored to continue this revered tradition in its most modern format – the podcast!” said Karen Brooks Hopkins, Executive Producer. “We are thrilled to share that our Onassis Foundation podcast, Live from Mount Olympus won Best Podcast in the 2026 Kidscreen Award, which rewards excellence across a wide range of children’s content categories.”
“When I floated the unorthodox idea that this season would be a musical––Apollo is god of music after all––I was so grateful for guidance from the great Rachel Chavkin who told me that a character should sing when it’s impossible to express his or her feelings any other way,” said Julie Burstein, Creator & Showrunner. “Through Magda Giannikou’s beautiful, emotionally resonant songs, the gods to show us their hearts: Apollo (Ato Blankson-Wood) boasts about slaying Python; Leto (Kimberly Marable) shows grit and determination as she searches for a place to give birth to her twins; Artemis (Christina Liberus) reveals the depths of her grief; and Eris, goddess of discord (a divinity the inimitable André De Shields has wanted to play forever) declares delight in dissonance. What a deep pleasure to create a Live from Mount Olympus season unlike any other with our extraordinary team.”
“This season is both so thrilling and bittersweet, as our final season at Live From Mount Olympus. It feels perfectly fitting that we introduce incredible original songs for the first time as part of a season focused on Apollo, the god of music. And we have assembled a cast that includes fabulous artists from across the Broadway universe, film and television, as well as young performers who’ve grown with the podcast,” said Rachel Chavkin, Director. “I’m immensely excited to bring this story of arrogance and humility, loss, redemption, and a bond shared between siblings to our audience.”
Dr. Michael Cohen is the educational advisor for Live from Mount Olympus and works closely with the podcast team to help ensure that the stories it features are age-appropriate and learning-rich for young audiences. An expert on children and media, Dr. Cohen is a well-respected developmental psychologist and clinician, who has gained recognition throughout the world for providing superior qualitative and quantitative research studies.
Beyond entertainment, Live from Mount Olympus has evolved into a classroom learning tool, with curriculum partnerships and school integrations supporting inquiry-based education nationwide.
Live from Mount Olympus: Apollo & Artemis stars André De Shields (Hermes, Eris), Ato Blankson-Wood (Apollo), Zhailon Levingston (Announcer), Christina Liberus (Artemis), Libby King (Athena), Marcel Isaiah Martinez (Hyacinthus), Jill Frutkin (Aphrodite), Kimberly Marable (Leto, Fury 2), Eric Berryman (Pan, Dionysus, Zephyrus), Jake Margolin (Orion), Modesto Flako Jimenez (Otus), Xavier Pacheco (Ephialtes, Paris), Nehemiah Luckett (Midas), Joanne Hernandez (Daphne), Kristen Sieh (Python, Gaea, Fury 1), Ching Valdes-Aran (Delos), James Harrison Monaco (Marsyas), Divine Garland (Ganymede), Nedra Marie Taylor (Hera), Daniel J. Watts (Eros, Silenus), and Ian Lassiter (Zeus), Caroline Hopkins (Midas’s daughter), Natalie Hopkins (Nymph) and Adrienne Hopkins (Nymph).
Live from Mount Olympus: Perseus (2021), the first season of the bold and original audio drama, brings to life the perilous quest of Perseus to save his mother from an evil king. Season 2, Live from Mount Olympus: Persephone (2022), tells the story of Persephone, stolen away to the underworld, leaving her mother Demeter, goddess of the harvest, to fight to bring her daughter back. Guest stars include Anna Kendrick (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Pitch Perfect) and Isabella Rossellini (Julia, La Chimera). In Season 3, Live from Mount Olympus: Atalanta (2023), young listeners hear the dramatic story of Atalanta, a girl raised by bears and taught by Artemis and Athena, who holds her own among the greatest heroes in Greece. John Turturro voices King Iasus, Atalanta’s father. The fourth season, Live from Mount Olympus: Prometheus (2024), stars Ato Blankson-Wood (Cabaret, Hamlet, Slave Play) in the title role of this tale about the unlikely friendship between Zeus and the young Titan Prometheus. The fifth season, Live from Mount Olympus: Pandora (2024), shares the story of Pandora, played by Nedra Marie Taylor (Book of Mormon, Marvin’s Room), as she tells her story as it’s never been heard before. Season 6, Live from Mount Olympus: Theseus & Ariadne, tells an epic story about danger, love, and fate, as Theseus, played by Xavier Pacheco (Antigone, Fat Ham), and Ariadne, voiced by Mayaa Boateng (Reunion, The Miser, Antigone) take on the labyrinth and infamous Minotaur. All seasons are now streaming on every major listening platform.
The Live from Mount Olympus creative team includes writer Nathan Yungerberg, composer Magdalini Giannikou, and New Yorker cartoonist Jason Adam Katzenstein, who creates original illustrations for each episode. John Melillo is an audio producer.
