‘Here Lies Love’ on Broadway.
Photo by Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Exactly a decade ago, before “Hamilton” had received its Off-Broadway premiere, another innovative musical built upon history, catchy pop music, and minority representation premiered at the Public Theater, namely “Here Lies Love,” David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s dance club-style, sung-through musical about former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos – essentially a discotheque revamp of “Evita.”
As inventively staged by Alex Timbers (“Moulin Rouge”), “Here Lies Love” was a high-energy experience, not unlike “Sleep No More,” where many audience members stood and moved around for 90 minutes. It was also a smart, edgy musical about a celebrity-seeking political leader, her rags-to-riches journey, the corruption of her regime, and her strained relationship with those around her.
No Broadway theater suited the production, which required an open space that could accommodate large shifting platforms and wall-to-wall projections. Another complication was the fact that “Here Lies Love” used prerecorded music rather than a live band or orchestra, running counter to union requirements on Broadway stipulating a minimum number of live musicians depending on theater size for any musical.
Rather than transferring, “Here Lies Love” received a short encore run at the Public Theater and then disappeared. Now, in an unexpected and long-overdue twist, “Here Lies Love” has finally come to Broadway, and the Broadway Theatre has been extensively redesigned to accommodate a 360-degree dance club setting. Audience members can either stand on the dance floor or sit in the mezzanine, where the performers frequently pop up.
“Here Lies Love” remains as exciting as ever, and its storytelling is more urgent and disturbing today thanks to the increasing presence of dictators around the world – not to mention the fact that Bongbong Marcos,…
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