WATCH: Cast, producers of Broadway’s ‘Here Lies Love’ on the baggage of making a Marcos musical

Here Lies Love, the disco pop musical about the rise of the Marcoses in the Philippines in the ’60s and ’70s, officially opens on Broadway on July 20.

While the current production takes pride in bringing Filipino representation to Broadway, some netizens question the fact that a “fun” musical has been made about the bloody Marcos dictatorship.

In an interview courtesy of Here Lies Love’s co-producer Giselle Tongi, the cast and creative team of the musical share their thoughts on taking on a project with a lot of historical baggage:

Here are some key snippets from the interviews:

Lea Salonga, who plays ‘Aurora Aquino’

“I feel anything that gets to illuminate parts of our history, I feel that that’s always important, even if it’s an ugly part of history, even if it’s a part of history that is fraught with heartbreak and pain and bad memories.

“Everyone’s going to have a different experience of Martial Law. Everyone is going to have a different level of experience with EDSA. What I remember from the EDSA Revolution was this feeling of catharsis on the part of a lot of people and hope.

“But what is happening in the present, it may not always be connected to what happened in the past, because remember, the EDSA Revolution is 1985, Bongbong Marcos’ win is 2022. There’s a lot of stuff that happened in between. So we have to look at that, too.”

David Byrne, concept and music/lyrics

“It’s very interesting that when we did the show before, people were criticizing the show for attacking the Marcoses. And now it’s turned around and people who haven’t seen the show yet are criticizing the show for maybe glamorizing the Marcoses.

“There’s a certain amount of truth to it. In my understanding, the Marcoses were a glamorous couple. The Philippine people were thrilled to be represented by this glamorous couple who impressed the whole world. And in a way, the Philippine people were seduced in this way.

“And then the Philippine people are in some ways very much betrayed by these people when they go to the dark side. I want the audience to have that same experience that they also feel seduced. They feel, oh, isn’t this wonderful? Look how beautiful they are. Look how pretty and how wonderful this is. And then they feel like, well, hey, we got tricked.”

Arielle Jacobs, who plays ‘Imelda Marcos’

“There is a lot of information out there about Imelda Marcos, and a lot of it was put out by the Marcos regime. And a lot of it is told by primary sources and people who were affected by the Marcoses.

“Right now, I’m very fortunate that the company of Here Lies Love is providing the whole cast with a whole bunch of information that’s coming from primary sources. So we are able to figure out what where is the true information, where is disinformation, and to figure out for ourselves what’s going to be helpful in telling this story as accurately as possible.”

Conrad Ricamora, who plays ‘Ninoy Aquino’

“I’m watching every piece of footage that Ninoy has available. He videotaped a lot during his lifetime, and I’m watching and rewatching that. Currently, I’m reading his book, Testament from a Prison Cell, that he wrote during the seven years that he was in prison. And just consuming everything that he has written, every piece of footage that’s available and just letting that into my skin and bones and then performing it every night.”

Jose Llana, who plays ‘Ferdinand Marcos’

“The challenge of researching President Ferdinand Marcos is that so much of the written history of him is not true.

“I’ve had to do as much research on who wrote the piece of history that I’m reading to make sure: who is this person in that world? Are these truths invented? And also, even Marcos’ personal diary that he wrote, he wrote things in there that were false because he changed dates, because he was obsessed with the number seven, and he wanted, knowing that his journal was going to be read in the future, he would change things to make it look better for him. And even to this day, his war stories of his valor are very much in question.

“So I think that is what the purpose of our show has been, is to to bring re-information out and try to tell the truth of what happened, and the truth of who these people are and the bad choices that they made, so that we can hold them accountable for history.”

Clint Ramos, lead producer and costume designer

“The gift that this show has given me was this sort of almost like perennial reckoning with our history. You know, my relationship with that regime, my relationship with fighting against that regime, my relationship as just being Filipino, growing up in Martial Law, all of that….

“It also feels like for (co-producer) Jose Antonio Vargas and I, it feels like we are really wrapping this with our arms and making sure that the Filipino agenda does not get lost. Because as we know, the Filipino agenda, the Filipino experience is broad. It is multi-layered. It is nuanced. There are so many ways to be Filipino and to be proud to be Filipino. And we are happy to be riding, being part of this Filipino renaissance that’s happening globally.” – Rappler.com