Review roundup: What critics say about 'Here Lies Love'

ABS-CBN News

<p>&quot;Here Lies Love,&quot; a musical about the rise and fall of former First Lady Imelda Marcos, has officially opened in New York City&#x27;s Broadway Theater.</p><p>It features an all-Filipino cast led by Arielle Jacobs (Imelda Marcos), Jose Llana (Ferdinand Marcos), and Conrad Rocamora (Ninoy Aquino), with a special appearance by Tony Award winner Lea Salonga as Aquino&#x27;s mother Aurora.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/life/07/07/23/lea-salonga-stands-by-here-lies-love-amid-criticisms">Despite criticisms, Lea Salonga stands by &#x27;Here Lies Love&#x27;</a></li></ul><p>Here&#x27;s a roundup of reviews of &quot;Here Lies Love&quot;:</p><div><strong><a href="https://deadline.com/2023/07/here-lies-love-broadway-review-deadline-david-byrne-fatboy-slim-1235438965/">DEADLINE</a></strong></div><p>&quot;As Imelda, Jacobs plays the ambitious, starry-eyed youth pleasantly enough, and does fine in conveying the latter stages of cynical corruption. But &#x27;Here Lies Love&#x27; offers only a half-hearted stab at bridging the two chronological extremes of Imelda’s life, with little attempt at explaining the making of this particular political monster. Perhaps that’s why &#x27;Here Lies Love,&#x27; for all its impressive confidence, feels a bit thin in afterthought. Maybe a musical needs a central character who can sing &#x27;Why Don’t You Love Me?&#x27; without it coming off like an anthem to cluelessness.&quot;</p><div><strong><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/review-david-byrnes-here-lies-love-is-a-weird-dictatorship-song-and-dance">THE DAILY BEAST</a></strong></div><p>&quot;&#x27;Here Lies Love&#x27; doesn’t just trivialize dictatorship and real-life horror — especially egregious given the political period we are living in — it also yawns arrogantly and lazily at history. Yes, the show looks and sounds distinctive. Yes, it’s admirable to try something new in a Broadway theater to engage a wide audience, but not at the expense at minimizing gravely consequential politics. There is really nothing to disco-dance about here. &#x27;Here Lies Love&#x27; ends up feeling almost magnificently grotesque.&quot;</p><div><strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/jul/20/here-lies-love-review-imelda-marcos-broadway">THE GUARDIAN</a></strong></div><p>&quot;With its reliance on catchy beats to liven up history, there are echoes of &#x27;Hamilton&#x27; as well as &#x27;Six,&#x27; the Broadway hit about Henry VIII’s wives that culminates in a long-awaited rise-from-your-seats dance party. But &#x27;Here Lies Love,&#x27; which melds dirty dancing with dirty politics, rouses audience members from the jump.&quot;</p><div><strong><a href="https://nypost.com/2023/07/20/here-lies-love-review-david-byrne-musical-hits-broadway">THE NEW YORK POST</a></strong></div><p>&quot;Still, even if &#x27;Here Lies Love&#x27; doesn&#x27;t reach the emotional highs of &#x27;Evita&#x27; (one reason it can’t is that, unlike Eva Peron, Marcos is alive and well and with a son, Bongbong, who&#x27;s the current president of the Philippines), it&#x27;s a ravishing sensory experience unlike any other. You&#x27;ll walk out at the end with no changed opinion of Imelda Marcos, but instead with your eyes opened about the endless possibilities for Broadway theaters.&quot;</p><div><strong><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/theater/here-lies-love-review-david-byrne.html">THE NEW YORK TIMES</a></strong></div><p>&quot;In any case, on Broadway, it’s not until the gorgeous last song, &#x27;God Draws Straight,&#x27; that the material matches the movement in a way that reaches the balcony. Led by Moses Villarama, and based on comments by eyewitnesses to the peaceful 1986 revolution, it acknowledges the moral superiority of its real heroes — the Philippine people — in the only way a musical can: by giving it beautiful voice. Finally, it’s OK to applaud.&quot;</p><div><strong><a href="https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/here-lies-love-musical-broadway-review-imelda-marcos-david-byrne">TIMEOUT</a></strong></div><p>&quot;Byrne and Timbers’s musical has even deeper resonance today than it did in its Off Broadway incarnation. Eva Perón had the good public-relations sense to die young, but Imelda is alive and kicking up her many shoes at the age of 94; she has survived disgrace to see the Marcos dynasty rejuvenated in the Philippines, where her son Bongbong became President last year. Our complicity with such cycles of populist fervor — whether, depending on your ticket, as spectators from a safe distance or as extras in a mob scene — is the loudly beating heart of &#x27;Here Lies Love,&#x27; a party that hides a mordant critique of civilization and its discotheques.&quot;</p><div><strong><a href="https://variety.com/2023/legit/reviews/here-lies-love-review-broadway-imelda-marcos-david-byrne-1235675386/">VARIETY</a></strong></div><p>&quot;The ingenuity that Bryne demonstrated in &#x27;American Utopia,&#x27; an astute compilation of existing hits into a treatise on democracy, is unevenly expressed here. Though their dynamic musicianship is undeniable, it’s hardly clear what the creators make of the Marcos’ fraught legacy.&quot;</p>

'Here Lies Love,' a musical about the rise and fall of former First Lady Imelda Marcos, has officially opened in New York City's Broadway Theater. 

Review roundup: What critics say about 'Here Lies Love' | ABS-CBN

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Review roundup: What critics say about 'Here Lies Love'

Review roundup: What critics say about 'Here Lies Love'

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 21, 2023 02:48 PM PHT

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