'Here Lies Love' finally lands in L.A. — with its musical take on corruption as relevant as ever

The archetypal clip David Byrne’s disco philharmonic “Here Lies Love” was publically staged astatine Mass MoCA successful 2012, Josh Dela Cruz was a bright-eyed ensemble histrion thrilled by the novelty of joining a majority-Filipino cast.

Like galore caller theatre schoolhouse grads, Dela Cruz was inactive trying to find his niche arsenic a performer, oscillating betwixt the pursuits of taste ambiguity — a casting plus — and taste identity. But successful post-rehearsal chow-downs with his chap formed members, helium felt astatine easiness arsenic his peers spoke astir their Filipino upbringings and their experiences processing the show, which chronicles the emergence and autumn of the infamous Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The taxable substance was emotionally taxing for some, but astatine the time, Dela Cruz said, “it was thing that happened.” Past-tense.

Now, arsenic helium takes the signifier successful a caller Center Theatre Group accumulation arsenic the precocious anti-Marcos person Ninoy Aquino, helium said, “it’s thing that’s happening” — and not conscionable successful the Philippines.

“Here Lies Love,” which opens Wednesday astatine the Mark Taper Forum, 3 years aft its Broadway debut, is arriving successful downtown L.A. astatine a prescient moment. Protests person erupted passim the U.S. successful effect to an ongoing national migration crackdown that immoderate qualify arsenic portion of a broader propulsion toward authoritarian rule. Meanwhile, crossed the globe, Marcos’ son, Philippine President Bongbong Marcos, and Vice President Sara Duterte, look duplicate impeachment complaints accusing them of high-level corruption and different violations of nationalist trust.

“Here Lies Love” is directed by Center Theatre Group’s creator director, Snehal Desai.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

Similar events worldwide person dovetailed with the communicative scenery of the musical, which centers connected the dictator’s wife, Imelda Marcos, her emergence to powerfulness and her autumn from grace. It’s besides staged to implicate the assemblage successful the Marcos’ ascension to office, yet revealing however corrupt leaders often look charming astatine first. The production, directed by CTG’s creator director, Snehal Desai, is drenched successful glitz and glamour that conceals its darker themes — until it doesn’t.

Desai chose “Here Lies Love” for this play agelong earlier President Trump deployed National Guard troops passim the country, conscionable arsenic helium selected CTG’s July accumulation “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” — which ends with its titular quality being taken into ICE custody — up of past summer’s migration raids successful L.A.

“I don’t person a crystal ball. I’m readying based connected wherever I consciousness similar we are, and what are the conversations we’re going to need,” Desai said during a caller “Here Lies Love” rehearsal break, noting that successful the fig “God Draws Straight” the lyrics speech astir nuns and priests from the religion starring the resistance, which mirrors the existent infinitesimal successful America.

“The playbook, which is governmental assassinations, it is censorship, it is martial law, is virtually what we’re seeing happen,” Desai said.

Two weeks earlier opening night, the “Here Lies Love” formed plunged done the musical’s second fractional earlier a luncheon break.

They rehearsed successful a tiny country successful CTG’s annex gathering connected Temple Street, which Desai said was unopen down during past summer’s ICE protests. Ensemble members donned flared heels, Onitsuka Tigers, unreality slides and different shoes that evoke Imelda‘s infamous 3,000-pair collection, intentionally near unmentioned successful Byrne’s musical.

“I anticipation that radical that are Asian oregon Filipino permission with a consciousness of pridefulness seeing themselves reflected connected stage,” Joshua Dela Cruz said. “It doesn’t substance if you’re fractional oregon a 4th oregon an eighth, you’re Filipino. And this is our civilization and our past that we carry.”

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

The actors glided crossed the makeshift signifier with panache, sparing nary vocal unit arsenic they sung done the uptempo way “Please Don’t” and the acoustic ballad “God Draws Straight.”

“You tin archer that they privation it to beryllium truly good,” choreographer William Carlos Angulo said.

Indeed, the show’s leads said they felt a peculiar loyalty to the L.A. production, which is being performed successful the metropolis with the largest Filipino colonisation extracurricular the Philippines, amounting to implicit 500,000 residents.

Reanne Acasio, who plays Imelda, said that her relation is acold much delicate than her caller historical turns arsenic each of the Schuyler sisters successful Broadway’s “Hamilton.”

“Doing a amusement that talks astir humanities events with radical who are each agelong gone by present is simply a precise antithetic acquisition than [performing for] radical who are inactive traumatized by these events,” Acasio said.

The actor, who made her “Here Lies Love” debut successful 2023 with Broadway’s first-ever all-Filipino cast, said that similar galore Filipino immigrants, her parents ne'er voluntarily spoke astir their clip nether martial law. So erstwhile Broadway amusement attendees told her they’d travel with their families, she was amazed.

“The information that this amusement was capable to unfastened up that doorway to conversation, to probe connected their own, was specified a pivotal moment,” Acasio said, “not lone for representation, but to commencement to heal immoderate trauma that gets stuffed successful the backmost of the closet.”

Chris Renfro, who plays Ferdinand Marcos, said being a portion of the amusement has enabled speech astir the Marcos authorities wrong their ain family.

“I’ve begun to link these small stories that they would archer me, and present I get to spot them with a antithetic colour to them due to the fact that they would — I mean, astir apt rightfully truthful — instrumentality the atrocious parts of the story,” Renfro said. “But present we’ve been talking astir it precise frankly.”

The philharmonic is structured successful a akin way, they said, opening with the joviality of a disco oregon Philippine noontime assortment show, past dilatory shedding that illusion.

“We support connected moving until you truly can’t refute the evidence, and it becomes thing that you person to confront,” they said.

It’s what Dela Cruz admires truthful overmuch astir Byrne’s story, which begins successful “a precise proud, precise lighthearted place, astir nostalgic,” and ends successful a tone of confrontation.

“I deliberation that’s the brilliance of David Byrne, wherever helium benignant of gets you comfy with an uncomfortable speech that you volition aboriginal request to person aft the show,” Dela Cruz said. “That’s wherefore this amusement is truthful important now, and I truly emotion however it’s being shaped for today’s audience.”

Desai kept astir amusement revisions adjacent to his thorax but did uncover that “American Troglodyte,” a fig astir the Philippines’ simultaneous glorification and disparagement of American culture, volition person respective reprises, each meant to solicit a antithetic effect from the audience.

By the song’s 3rd appearance, the manager said, it’s a “wake-up moment” for everyone.

Over the years, “Here Lies Love” has been criticized arsenic insensitive to the Filipino assemblage successful its perceived glamorization of Imelda and minimization of the atrocities committed by the Marcos regime.

In response, amusement producers successful a 2023 connection said, “Democracies each implicit the satellite are nether threat. The biggest menace to immoderate ideology is disinformation, ‘Here Lies Love’ offers a originative mode of re-information—an innovative template connected however to basal up to tyrant.”

Joan Almedilla, who plays Aurora Aquino successful the Taper production, said her privation is for audiences to consciousness a corporate call-to-action against oppressive leaders.

“In the Philippines, this communicative is ‘the authorities versus the people,’ arsenic opposed to now, ‘people versus radical versus radical versus the government,’” Almedilla said.

As guests permission the theater, the histrion added, “I anticipation radical beryllium determination and say, ‘There’s much of us. What are we doing?’”