Broadway Musicians Oppose HERE LIES LOVE's Use of Recorded Tracks

The New York Times has reported that Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians is opposing Here Lies Love's plans to stage the Broadway production with recorded instrumental tracks instead of a live band.

Read the full story HERE. 

Here Lies Love, the musical from the minds of Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award winner David Byrne (concept, music and lyrics) and Grammy Award winner Fatboy Slim (music), begins performances Saturday, June 17 ahead of an official opening night on Thursday, July 20. Here Lies Love features the first all-Filipino cast to perform on Broadway.

Here Lies Love tells the story of Imelda Marcos' rise to power and subsequent fall at the hands of the Philippine People Power Revolution. Developed & directed by Tony Award winner Alex Timbers, with choreography by Olivier Award nominee Annie-B Parson, Here Lies Love will transform the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway at 53rd Street) into a dance club where the audience is immersed in the story on the dance floor or in traditional theater seating. 

The musical has previously been staged Off-Broadway, in London and in Seattle. Each time the cast was accompanied by recorded music. There are no full-time instrumentalists.

Local 802 has stated that its contract with the Broadway League requires the use of 19 musicians for musicals at the Broadway Theater. The number of musicians required under the contract differs based on the size of the theater.

The HERE LIES LOVE producers stated, "Since the HERE LIES LOVE was first conceived seventeen years ago, every production (2013 Public Theatre, 2014 off-Broadway return at the Public, 2014 National Theatre, and 2017 Seattle Rep), has been performed to pre-recorded track; this is part of the karaoke genre inherent to the musical and the production concept.  The music for HERE LIES LOVE was inspired by the phenomena of “track acts” which allowed club audiences to keep dancing, much like this production aims to do."

Read the production's full response to the dispute here.

Tino Gagliardi, Local 802 president and executive director stated, "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. For generations, audiences have experienced Broadway shows with live music performed by the best musicians in the world, and by using just pre-recorded tracks it not only cheapens the art it’s putting jobs and livelihoods at risk. Our musicians are heartbroken that David Byrne - a legend  - is attempting this and we strongly hope he reconsiders."

The producing team of Here Lies Love has been aiming to have the show declared a "special situation," which is a category in the labor agreement that allows for the employment of fewer musicians.