STAGE TUBE: HERE LIES LOVE Holds Filipino Night

Video: Balitang America

New York--David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's immersive musical Here Lies Love, which has returned to The Public Theatre (425 Lafayette St.), after enjoying four extended runs last year, recently staged a special performance for predominantly Filipino audiences--another special performance is set October, in celebration of Filipino American History Month.

HERE LIES LOVE gets its inspiration from former first lady of the Philippines Imelda Romualdez Marcos's meteoric rise and subsequent descent into disgrace.

Directed by Alex Timbers, the musical, where audiences dance along with the actors at an intimate performance space, stars Ruthie Ann Miles (Imelda Marcos; Jaygee Macapugay plays the role at certain performances), Jose Llana (Ferdinand Marcos, the late dictator of the Philippines), and Conrad Ricamora (Ninoy Aquino, the late opposition leader and arch rival of the Marcoses).

"We're actually telling the story so that younger Filipino Americans, who were raised in America, can go home and talk to their parents about it," Llana told Balitang America's Don Tagala in an interview. "And learn from the mistakes that were made during the Marcos regime so that those mistakes don't happen [again]."

HERE LIES LOVE features choreography by Annie-B Parson, set design by David Korins, costume design by Clint Ramos, lighting design by Justin Townsend, sound design by M. L. Dogg and Cody Spencer, and production design by Peter Nigrini.

Kimberly Grigsby is music supervisor; Justin Levin, music producer; and Matt Stine, music editor.

HERE LIES LOVE is also set to open at the new Dorfman Theatre (formerly The Cottesloe) at The National Theatre (Upper Ground, South Bank, London) on Tuesday, September 30. The London production stars Natalie Mendoza (Imelda Marcos), Mark Bautista (Ferdinand Marcos), Dean John-Wilson (Ninoy Aquino), Gia Macuja Atchison, Frances Mayli McCann, Li-Tong Hsu, Jim Ferrer, Lauren Chia, Christopher Chung, Julius Ebreo, Kok-Hwa Lie, Aaron Jan Mercado, Martin Sarreal, Julie Yammanee, and Sunny Yeo.