Here Lies Love - Revision, Representation or Revolution?
An All Filipino Team of Producers and Cast Take Back Control of Their History
Depending on your viewpoint Here Lies Love is one of three things: the most exciting thing to happen on stage this year OR an existential threat to the world of Broadway musicians OR a controversial piece that glorifies the lives of a couple who robbed a country and ordered the torture and deaths of thousands. I think it is possible to consider all three viewpoints simultaneously.
The show is about an important and controversial part of Philippines history during which President Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law, tortured and assassinated political opponents and, together with his wife Imelda, stole literally billions of dollars from the country before being overthrown and escaping to Hawaii. While the story is often trivialised as being about Imelda and her 3000 pairs of shoes, it is important to remember that the wounds left by the Marcos regime are still deep and raw to many in the Filipino diaspora and there have been strong accusations that the show ‘glorifies’ Marcos when it should be condemning.
Similar arguments were made about Evita. My wife is Argentinian and we watched the movie, the Broadway revival with Elena Rogers and Ricky Martin and the last UK touring version of Evita. Her parents lived through the period described in the show and told us their perception but we were inspired by the show to find out more for ourselves. We bought books written from various viewpoints and watched movies and TV series about the era so we could be more sure of what we knew. In the end we recognise that Evita is a comment on a person rather than an autobiographical documentary piece - clearly Eva Peron and Che Guevara never met in the same way that Imelda Marcos did not live in a disco. As creators we have to tread a fine line between praise and condemnation of controversial historical figures while recognising that there is a difference between what is challenging and what is offensive.
The show’s creative and production team have described the show as ‘anti-Marcos’ and have addressed the issue of glorifying a controlling, violent and tyrannical dictator:
‘History repeats itself. Democracies all over the world are under threat. The biggest threat to any democracy is disinformation, Here Lies Love offers a creative way of re-information’
This statement demonstrates a new power the show has. Here Lies Love on Broadway is now serving an artistic purpose different to that of its previous Off Broadway and London runs. It is still a Philippines story but has acquired new universality and resonance because we are now in a ‘post truth’ society with politicians seeking to control narratives and access to the truth. While some shows can be ‘wrong time wrong place’, Here Lies Love now finds itself as a zeitgeist busting ‘right time-right place’ piece of art. And what a piece of art it is!
The show looks and sounds stunning with preview audiences loving the karaoke nightclub vibe and score by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim that is sonically straight out of clubland. And it is the sound that caused a few commentators to opine the lack of a ‘proper Broadway band’ - whatever that means! The Musicians Union Local 802 complained to the Broadway League that the show wanted to use track rather than live musicians. This artistic choice is explained by the show’s creative setting as a karaoke dance club where the music never stops. Artistic choices did not impress Local 802 President and Executive Director Tino Gagliardi who said “A show with no live music and just pre-recorded tracks is absolutely an existential threat to Broadway- and is a cultural threat to musical theater worldwide” Using track is certainly a threat to pit musicians but isn’t dictating how many musicians must be used in a show a threat to creativity and artistic freedom? This is a tough call and the show’s producers have negotiated a settlement that means that they will now employ 12 musicians to play along to the pre-recorded dance track rather than the 19 stipulated for the Broadway Theater in the Musicians Union / Broadway League agreement.
There is definitely more to discuss around protecting skilled musicians’ jobs while respecting that today’s and tomorrow’s audiences have different sonic expectations. It is positive that diverse writers and musicians from other backgrounds are working in musical theatre because it is necessary to keep the art form vital and its audience engaged. But it also presents a technical and creative challenge around how we create the sounds and visuals needed with live musicians who might not be playing in a traditional pit.
Here Lies Love uses more than just Fatboy Slim produced sounds to achieve the feel of a nightclub in the Broadway Theater. Designer David Korins has removed all of the stalls (orchestra) seats and created a floor space punctuated by performance podiums that the audience can move between. He has also put in galleries either side at the balcony (mezzanine) height. The height of the podiums effectively makes the first row of the balcony the de facto front row. Check out this very cool video that shows David explaining his design:
Here Lies Love Designer - David Korins
Here Lies Love has already done more for Filipino representation than any show in history. The show features the first ever all Filipino cast on Broadway and is led by the incomparable Arielle Jacobs as Imelda Marcos as well as featuring the legendary Lea Salonga for a limited engagement. Many of the show’s actors are quoted as saying that this is the first time that they are playing Filipino roles which is something we all need to think about in our writing, casting and producing. Here Lies Love’s producers (which include Ms Salonga) are also entirely Filipino which is hugely important because the show is also about having agency over how your story gets told. This is achieved best when representation goes beyond who is onstage. Which brings us back to where we started.
‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely’ noted 19th Century British historian Lord Acton and it is this idea that informs Here Lies Love. Imelda Marcos did not start out with the ambition to be the wife of a cruel, controlling, corrupt and violent demagogue. In fact she started as a small time beauty queen who caught the eye of an upcoming politician. She went on to wield huge political power and, with her husband, she stole billions of dollars from the country. Here Lies Love takes this story, and asks how did this happen? How did she and her husband become those people?
When political leaders use fake propaganda to become dictators we lose chunks of our history and our collective memories and stories become polarised. We see this in Trump’s election deniers, in Johnson’s Brexit lies and in Putin’s claim to be liberating Ukraine from Nazis. This retelling of what is happening today can only be done by the powerful. The rest of us are compelled to believe what we are told and so we repeat the stories that the ruling classes tell us. This is where art makes a difference. This is why theatre from Shakespeare to Arthur Miller to Lin Manuel Miranda is so important and powerful. Here Lies Love continues this proud lineage. By removing the powerful from the telling of history it does what theatre and what art does best: it gives voice to the people.
CNN Philippines Here Lies Love
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Here Lies Love is running at The Broadway Theatre New York and, at time of writing, is booking through November 19 2023