‘Here Lies Love’ musical on Imelda Marcos winding up its Broadway run

NEW YORK – “Here Lies Love,” a Broadway musical on the rise and fall of former First Lady Imelda Marcos, featuring Filipino talents and producers is reportedly winding up its Broadway run.

The reason as reported by Variety: lackluster ticket sales.

According to Variety, the final performance will be a Sunday matinee on November 26 after 33 previews and 149 regular performances.

The show, co-written by David Byrne and veteran DJ Fatboy Slim started previews at the Broadway Theater on June 17 before opening on July. 20

The show narrates the former First Lady’s rise and fall from power after the EDSA People Power Revolution by transforming the theater “into a dance club where the audience is immersed in the story.”

“Here Lies Love” features Filipino talents as actors and producers.

They included award-winning singer-actress Lea Salonga, award-winning Filipino-American singer H.E.R. in the production team.

Directed by Tony and Golden Globe awards recipient Alex Timbers, the groundbreaking show is choreographed by Olivier Award nominee Annie-B Parson.

It’s produced by Hal Luftig, Patrick Catullo, Diana DiMenna (Plate Spinner Productions), Clint Ramos, and Jose Antonio Vargas.

The Here Lies Love all-Filipino cast, a first in Broadway history, is led by Arielle Jacobs (In the Heights, Aladdin) as Imelda Marcos and Jose Llana (Rent, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) as Ferdinand Marcos.

Conrad Ricamora (How to Get Away with Murder, The King and I) plays the role of assassinated opposition senator Ninoy Aquino. Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, meanwhile, portrayed Aurora Aquino, the latter’s mother, in a special five-week-only guest engagement from July 11 to Aug. 13.

Other cast members include Melody Butiu, Moses Villarama, Jasmine Forsberg, Reanne Acasio, Jaygee Macapugay, Julia Abueva, Renée Albulario, Aaron Alcaraz, Carol Angeli, Nathan Angelo, Kristina Doucette, Roy Flores, Timothy Matthew Flores, Sarah Kay, Jeigh Madjus, Aaron “AJ” Mercado, Geena Quintos, Shea Renne, and Angelo Soriano.

“Filipinos are a global people. We come in all colors and build bridges across cultures. I am beyond excited to produce my first Broadway musical and forge a unique and meaningful partnership with Here Lies Love,” the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter said.

“Here Lies Love” was conceptualized by award-winning singer-songwriter David Byrne and DJ-producer Fatboy Slim.

The musical’s producers earlier addressed criticisms, explaining that the show “offers a creative way of re-information — an innovative template on how to stand up to tyrant.”

“We cannot tell the modern history of the Philippines without the United States. They’re intertwined. Here Lies Love is an Anti-Marcos show. It is a pro-Filipino show, being told in a quintessential American form: the Broadway musical,” the producers said in a statement last January.

“Here Lies Love” also marked the return of Lea Salonga to the Broadway scene.

Filipino theater star Lea Salonga joined the Broadway cast of Here Lies Love, a musical about the life of Imelda Marcos.

Salonga performed “Just Ask The Flowers” as the character of Aurora Aquino, mother of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino.

Lea appeared in the musical for five weeks from the July 11 to the August 13 shows. After her five-week stint, guest stars from the Philippines took over her role. An international casting search is also underway.

Aside from being one of the cast members, Salonga also joined the show’s producing team.

“I’m so excited to be joining Here Lies Love as both a performer and producer,” she said in a press release. “I’m thrilled to be part of this show, as well as part of a company comprised of an abundance of Filipino talent, a first in Broadway history! We’re showing the world what we’re capable of!”

The production will serve as Salonga’s first Filipino role on the Broadway stage and first stint as a producer.

Here Lies Love will also mark her return to the Broadway Theater – where she made her Broadway debut in 1991 with Miss Saigon.

The immersive musical, which features music by David Bryne and Fatboy Slim, dramatizes the rise and fall of the Marcos matriarch and follows the dictator’s family through to the People Power Revolution. It will reportedly “transform part of the Broadway Theater into a dance club” to immerse the audience.

Here Lies Love started out as a 2010 concept album featuring singers like Cyndi Lauper, Florence Welch, Sia, and Tori Amos.

In 2013, it was adapted into a musical, which premiered off Broadway in New York City, with Ruthie Ann Miles as Imelda, Jose Llana as the dictator, and Conrad Ricamora as opposition leader Ninoy Aquino. Following its off-Broadway premiere, the musical has since built a following, and has been staged in London and Seattle.