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| In 'Here Lies Love,' wittingly or unwittingly, the audience became part of the show. |
When it closes, the production will have played 33 previews and 149 regular performances at the Broadway Theatre.
At an estimated cost of $22 million, Here Lies Love, which uses a 1970s disco club setting to tell the story of the rise and fall of Imelda Marcos, part of the conjugal dictatorship that ruled the Philippines for 20 years, will now be among Broadway’s biggest financial flops in recent years.
Amidst great fanfare, which including transforming the iconic Times Square into a barrio fiesta on opening night, when it opened July 20, the show failed to sustain the level of ticket sales that would cover its weekly operating costs. For the week ending Oct. 29, for example, the show grossed $664,703 with only 84% of available seats filled.
In a lengthy statement released today by the Here Lies Love producers, which includes a good number of Filipino and Filipino American celebrities including Broadway legend Lea Salonga, H.E.R., Joy Koy and Jose Antonio Vargas, said: “When we started this journey to bring this bold and original work to Broadway, we asked ourselves: Can anyone produce on Broadway in a new way? Is there a new path forward? What does the template look like? Will audiences want something radically new? Who will those audiences be?
“We have learned a great deal about the answers to those questions. Yes, new ways can work. Artistic excellence can be achieved. But the reality is, succeeding on Broadway means not only producing excellent work with artistic merit––it also means creating the audience for it. And how much time it takes to find and grow new audiences is out of sync with the tight timeframes for audience-building and awareness.
“Every aspect of our production brought new life and fresh ideas to Broadway, from the innovative music of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, the beautiful choreography of Annie-B Parson, the masterful staging by our visionary director Alex Timbers, and the jaw-dropping set, lighting, sound, and projection designs by David Korins, Justin Townsend, M.L. Dogg, Cody Spencer and Peter Nigrini, and among the most dazzling collection of costumes ever seen on Broadway created by Clint Ramos.
“As the first-ever fully binational producing team, we are deeply proud and honored to have brought this pioneering theatrical event to Broadway. The first all-Filipino acting company on Broadway received universal critical acclaim, celebrated by thousands of people from diverse backgrounds, including record numbers who experienced going to a Broadway show for the first time."
The production debuted 10 years ago off-Broadway to rave reviews. It took a decade to get to Broadway because of the physical requirements of the musical. In order to give the look and feel of a disco nightclub and to accommodate the movable pieces of the stage, the Broadway Theatre removed all the seats in the orchestra to allow the audience to join in the dancing and later in the play, become the People Power demonstrators.
All of those changes were expensive to maintain, and the show was losing money because tickets weren’t selling out. It cost about $700,000 per week to mount “Here Lies Love,” which exceeded its weekly box office take of $500,000 to $620,000, according to The Washington Post.
From the beginning, the show was embroiled in controversy within the Filipino American community. Some people felt the show was glamorizing a dark chapter in Philippine history and was too sympathetic too pro-Marcos.
In addition, there were those who resented that the creators of the production were not Filipino; telling the story of the dictatorship from a white perspective.
In an attempt to counter that criticism, a bevy of Filipino producers were found and more production crew members were hired to shore up the Filipino connection.
Evidently the debate didn't keep Asian American audiences away. Industry sales data show aggregate ticket sales for all Broadway shows attributed to AANHPI buyers at an average of 8% from March-August 2023.
In comparison, Here Lies Love saw AANHPI buyers accounting for an average 16% of total sales for the same period, peaking at 20% for the month of August 2023.
Marking the historic nature of the groundbreaking show, Here Lies Love will be filmed for the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive (TOFT) at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Discussions are reportedly underway for two upcoming international productions in Japan and Australia.
The Broadway show was historic for featuring an all-Filipino cast and showcased the caliber of talent of AANHPI actors, singers and dancers. As a result, the diversity numbers of Broadway productions will be higher this year because the industry is noted for falling short in reflecting America's diverse population.
The production features established Broadway veterans Arielle Jacobs (Aladdin) as Imelda Marcos, Jose Llana (King and I) as Ferdinand Marcos, and Conrad Ricamora (King and I, How to Get Away With Murder) as Ninoy Aquino. For the opening month, legend Lea Salonga was featured as Aquino's mother and given a show-stopping number.
The company also includes 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.
The producers' statement concluded: “As an artistic, cultural, and commercial enterprise, we believe that Here Lies Love had to be presented on Broadway. We hope anyone who hasn’t seen the production will be able to get to the show before November 26.”
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