[WATCH] In the Public Square with John Nery: How the Marcoses use culture

The restaging of the musical Here Lies Love, this time on Broadway with an all-Filipino cast, has been successful, but also hounded by controversy.

Rappler columnist Ruben Nepales recognizes the artistry and the good intentions that went into this play about the so-called rise and fall of Imelda Marcos.

But in a Rappler piece, New York-based Filipino writer Eric Gamalinda argues that the problem with the disco musical is that despite being up front about the abuses of Ferdinand E. Marcos, Imelda in the end “becomes the true heroine.”

What should we make of all this? And what does it tell us about how the Marcoses, since the 1960s, have used culture and the arts to their advantage?

In this episode of In The Public Square, veteran journalist and Rappler columnist John Nery talks to Ruben Carranza, former commissioner of the Presidential Commission for Good Government, and Marguerite de Leon, Rappler’s life & style/entertainment editor, about the musical.

Watch it on Wednesday, August 2, at 8 pm. – Rappler.com