Even if you love musicals, there’s a chance that you may not have heard of Here Lies Love. It was an intimate experience that threw you into the largely untold history of the Philippines, scored with music by David Byrne from The Talking Heads and Fatboy Slim.
It’s still up for debate among the Reddit community and niche musical fans whether the musical skewed a bit too apologetically toward its subject matter. However, as a long-time fan of musical theatre and writing, and a UBC-certified history major, I believe that Here Lies Love struck a balance that both entertained and educated.
The controversy regarding this musical is about its premise. It is the story of former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos. Yes, that’s right, The wife of the Filipino dictator who declared martial law for nine years. The same president that had 3,200 Filipinos killed, 34,000 tortured, and roughly 70,000 imprisoned.
She was married to that president and was often portrayed to the world as the Iron Butterfly. She is also the mother of the current controversial president, Bong Bong Marcos. So why make a musical following her story? Some might say that it glorifies the tyranny that she either turned a blind eye to or even encouraged.
Here Lies Love tells an accurate depiction of the events that transpired prior to martial law. It used direct quotes from the real voices that spoke to the Filipino people from the 1960s to the late 1980s. The almost impossible love triangle between politician Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino and Ferdinand Marcos over Imelda became a storybook saga that is brought to life on stage.
Learn some Philippines history with some music from the show.
Here Lies Love engaged in creative storytelling
Here Lies Love follows Imelda’s story from a poor village in Tacloban to her life in the marbled walls of Malacañang Palace.
In reading articles about the musical, there was a lot of criticism aimed at the show’s inability to cover the entire scope of the sad tapestry woven by the Marcos family. That is a fair point. However, the argument can be made that to satisfy a broad audience, the show had to indulge in creative liberties.
That isn’t to say that it doesn’t take melancholic turns to acknowledge the loss of Filipino lives. The show ends with an uplifting and poignant song that is an ode to those who marched in the People Power Revolution, the peaceful and bloodless coup that ousted the Marcos regime.
Of course, a musical can’t go into the intricate depths necessary to portray the full picture of the true story. That’s what textbooks and informative animated history videos are for. But the point remains that this show was able to bring this story to the world stage, thanks to its run on Broadway in 2023. And the producers did so in a uniquely creative way.
They had the theatre in New York pull out all the seats from the lower floor so that they could simulate a dance floor. Seeing as most of the musical takes place in the ’70s, the show made the bold decision to immerse audience members into the story. Actors did dance numbers on a rotating stage in the middle of the “dance floor” as ushers guided the audience around the room to get different views.
Lea Salonga in the original cast
Dancers emerged from various exits, and they would dance with audience members or pull them up on stage at any moment to keep them on their toes. There were moments in the musical in which the stage crew would use an actual camera connected to monitors around the theatre. This made it look like the actor was broadcasting in black in white from the past. The production pulled all the stops to stand out from the crowd.
The show even went so far as to cast Lea Salonga as Imelda for their first run of the show. And obviously, that helped fill the seats for 10 years because the producers could advertise that the voice of Jasmine from Disney’s Aladdin or that Miss Saigon from the musical Miss Saigon was a part of this dynamic and informative experience.
It was truly in a league of its own. But sadly, the cast took their final bow eight months ago. Some say it was a mismanagement of the production team or perhaps the marketing of the show that proved to be the Achilles heel. But in my eyes, this show was more akin to Icarus. It flew too close to the sun and then fell from its place as a household musical name.
But there is hope. The music is still around and there have been murmurs that the show could come back. If it does have the chance to resurrect from its stasis, it would be wise to treat yourself to a unique and culturally important musical. Then you can be the judge of it and covers the subject well enough. If you leave without learning a single new thing or being wowed by any of the spectacles, you might be watching the wrong musical.
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