Here Lies Love

Concept, Music and Lyrics by David Byrne

Music by Fatboy Slim

Developed and Directed by Alex Timbers

Broadway Musical Debut

Runs through 11.26.23

The Broadway Theatre

1681 Broadway

BOTTOM LINE: Bring your tissues and your dancing shoes to this unforgettable disco fever dream of a show.

The palpable excitement which filled the air of the Broadway Theatre for Here Lies Love wasn’t just from the disco beats which blared from the surround sound speakers. It was because of the absolute joy of being present for the first ever all-Filipino cast on Broadway! As a Filipina American reviewer, I couldn’t be more thrilled to be on the (literal) dance floor for this historic occasion. If financially possible, the dancing floor tickets are absolutely worth it, though there are also more affordable options which include physical seats that can also accommodate differently abled audience members. According to the production team there are no bad seats as the action does happen on many different levels, however it is very fun to be in the center of the action.

There was some trepidation on seeing this musical from my part however, due to the content of the production. Here Lies Love is the disco fever dream borne from bizarre and brilliant mind of David Byrne paired with the infectious beats of Fatboy Slim. Byrne’s obsession with the flamboyant tyrant Imelda Marcos, the first lady and sometimes acting dictator of the Philippines from 1965 - 1986, created a jukebox of songs which eventually became a full fledged musical and an off-Broadway hit.

Like millions, the actions of the Marcos’ devastated and destroyed the lives of me and my family members. It is the sole reason that we fled the Philippines and defines why I am an immigrant. The idea of a musical featuring the despots we fled from does not sit well with many, myself included, however this feeling of discomfort is also shared by many of the actors and producers of the celebrated production, several of whom have gone on record to discuss how their families suffered greatly under the Marcos dictatorship. Indeed, the audience was filled with Filipinos, many of whom traveled great distances to be a part of this historic production.

In spite of all of this adversity, the show works. And it works so beautifully. Behind the catchy beats of Byrne and Fatboy Slim, the voice of a poor and pitiable young woman emerges and it feels impossible not to root for her. Traipsing across moving platforms with ease, Arielle Jacobs gives a powerhouse performance as a demure and ambitious Imelda Romualdez as she flirts with a charismatic young politician, Ninoy Aquino, who eventually rejects her due to her superficiality. Her heartbreak doesn’t last long as she is swept up by another young politician, the war hero Ferdinand Marcos played by the magnetic Jose Llana. 

It was here that much of the fun began to wane for me. Hearing cheers of “Marcos for President!” felt like a gut punch and I couldn’t bear to keep dancing. Amazingly, this was reflected in the masterful projections behind Marcos by the innovative scenic and projection designers David Korins and Peter Nigrini. At first, Marcos was followed through the crowd by a camera which gave a live black-and-white feed on a projection in the foreground, as he made his way through the crowded dance floor. When Marcos made it to the projection on the back of the stage, the effect of a camera upon him while he was in front of his own image created a bizarre reflective and echo-like distortion, mirroring the narcissism of Marcos in real life.

Marcos’ charisma was matched only by his alluring wife Imelda, clad in bright colors and sparkling material by the sartorial brilliance of costume designer/producer, Clint Ramos. Ramos particularly excelled with juxtaposing the vibrant Imelda with other women on stage who often wore drab shapeless clothes that resembled factory uniforms. Sporting a hot pink Jackie-O pillbox hat knockoff, Imelda blossomed from poverty to luxury. In some ways, it would have been wonderful to end the play there, however that would have been a disservice to what happened in real life, when the fairy tale turned into a horror movie. 

Corrupted by power, the Marcos’ would go on to embezzle billions of dollars from the Filipino people who languished in poverty and starvation, while they brazenly danced at Studio 54 and hobnobbed with celebrities. Particularly egregious was Imelda’s pet project of a National Performance Arts Center, wonderfully portrayed in “The Fabulous One (I’m ‘A Rise Up)” which takes the audience to church. Her budget ballooned from 30 million to 160 million and included the horrifying footnote of how she paved over the bodies of 169 construction workers to make sure her center opened on schedule.

While shocking, nothing could prepare the country or the world for Order 1081, sang with depth in the eponymous ballad. The Marcos’ would institute martial law, dissolve congress, dissolve the Supreme Court, dissolve the free press, and imprison his political opponent and Imelda’s first love interest, Ninoy Aquino, played by the jaw droppingly talented Conrad Ricamora. 

After seven years, Aquino is pardoned by Imelda but on the condition of banishment. During the ballad “Gate 47” however, Aquino sings farewell to his wife and child before flying back to the Philippines to run against Marcos in the next election. Like many Filipinos in the audience, I knew what was coming next. Ninoy Aquino was executed seconds after landing in the Philippines. During his farewell song, I began to sob uncontrollably. I wasn’t just mourning him, I was mourning my parents, my grandparents, even myself. I was mourning the life in our homeland that was taken from us. Like many other in the audience, I was mourning the me who I would have been. 

Broadway and Disney singing legend Lea Salonga broke the silence after the gunshot, making her cameo as the aggrieved mother of the slain Aquino, bringing the show to its knees in a scene stealing, show-stopping performance of “Just Ask the Flowers.” Grief turns to outrage, and outrage transforms the audience and country into a people power uprising and revolution.

Here Lies Love does the herculean feat of having the audience fall in love with a poor, beautiful girl as she blossoms to become one the most important women in the world, only to have them turn on her due to her Antionette-like hedonism and waste, accompanied by flagrant corruption and brutal tyranny. What’s painful is how eerily this reflects the campy and horrifying truth experienced by millions. And as painful as it was to watch, there was also so much joy to see this foreign (to Americans)  history that was not only being remembered - it was being immortalized.