Review: David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's Here Lies Love, Reimagined in Los Angeles

A new staging of the Broadway cause célèbre Here Lies Love has arrived at the Mark Taper Forum. But without the benefit of seeing the original Alex Timbers production in New York, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why, in this reimagined version helmed by Center Theatre Group artistic director Snehal Desai, the elements that reportedly once dazzled now fall flat. What may have resonated in earlier iterations struggles to find its footing here.

A sung-through musical by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love relies on its songs to communicate its story. Here, the drag performer Imeldific (Aura Mayari, contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season 15) leads a dance party-themed TV show, portraying the life of Imelda Marcos (Reanne Acasio) and her rise from poor young girl obsessed with fame to the most powerful woman in the Philippines. Imelda’s relationships with first boyfriend (and eventual rival), Ninoy Aquino (Joshua Dela Cruz) and her husband, dictator Ferdinand Marcos (Chris Renfro) are explored. And eventually, she allows the power to envelop her.

Because the music is more mood than conversational, someone without a full knowledge of Filipino history could get lost. Subtitles spell out many characters and events, and when titles do the heavy lifting, it is difficult to connect with characters.  The songs, a combination of early 80s electronica and dream pop, bring an initial freshness to a style of music rarely found on the legit stage. But after a while, the style becomes stale.

The plot points are so familiar they’re in-Evita-ble. Young girl dreams of being rainbow high, so she travels to the big city to say What’s New, Buenos Air—I mean, Manila. She marries a corrupt politician who would be surprisingly good for her, and the money kept rolling in (and out). She pushes away those who loved her as a child until she’s forced to tell all the people who turned on her that they must love her.

And whom exactly does Imedific, an new character in this Los Angeles version, who acts as the play’s narrator, represent? Sometimes she signifies Imelda’s base cravings then shifts to representing the people. The inconsistency of the metaphor makes the role superfluous.

All three leads carry their roles well. Acasio, who played Aurora Aquino in the Broadway production, brings delicacy to a young Imelda and captures that cold shift to ruthless dictator. Joan Almedilla is stirringly heart-wrenched as Aurora here in her solo “Just Ask The Flowers.”

William Carlos Angulo’s choreography is spirited and inventive, drawing from Filipino culture, like tinikling, in his numbers. Major praise goes to Kaleena Jordan’s hair and wigs and Jaymee Ngernwichit’s opulent costumes, particularly a flowing white princess dress for Imelda near the end with a crimson red insert that visually leaves her bloody.

Here Lies Love is an unconventional but shallow telling of Imelda Marcos’s life. There are so many more interesting stories to tell of the Marcos legacy. Corazon Aquino, the first female president, someone who got the title Imelda craved, and led a democratic country, is reduced to a wordless girl in a yellow dress with large glasses, who shadows Ninoy and wails when he dies. It’s a mirror image of the two most successful female leaders of the Philippines. One hides behind her husband but leads with an iron fist. The other is a phoenix rising to continue her husband’s passion for the people, only for the corrupt one to win in the end. Now, that’s a musical.