HERE LIES LOVE - Broadway Previews- Page 11

[ACL2006]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 8:43am

I'd expect solid reviews based on word-of-mouth, but this really isn't selling. They better hope things pickup soon or this might end up a huge flop.

[JBM84]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 9:09am

HLL/Child/Pretty Face/Flowers mash up would be good as it would involve all three leads plus the guest role.

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 9:36am

Does anyone know what time the box office opens for the Sunday performance ? Thank you

[Kad]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 11:40am

bwaylyric said: "No reprise tonight. After the three leads did their bows, I got excited when Arielle got hold of a mic, but all she ended up saying was “Come on, everybody!” End of music. Cue the confetti. In this club setting, this show needs a better send-off. I’d suggest some sort of remix a la Six."

Kind of funny that for all of the production’s arguments against hiring live musicians revolving around “this is karaoke!” that they end up cutting one of the most clearly karaoke-inspired moments of the show. 

[All So Ozmopolitan]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 12:14pm

Last night (7/7), the TDF Standing tickets were in fact on the dance floor! It takes a minute to get adjusted to the aircraft marshalling of it all (be ready to move if you're on the floor), but it's a really unique experience. I definitely recommend. Lea Salonga was not on, but she and David Byrne watched the entire show from floor-side seats and bounced along. No HLL Reprise and lots of staging in the mezzanine (including rear). Amazing show! I'll definitely be back. 

[yyys]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 1:47pm

Where's the ideal spot on the floor?

[BETTY22]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 1:50pm

Don’t forget the $20 million it cost to renovate the theatre. This show has to be a monster hit to ever pay back.

Rumor is ‘Guys And Dolls’ from London is waiting in the wings to moved into this theatre after Here Lies Love closes. 

[Scott19]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 2:21pm

Kad said: "bwaylyric said: "No reprise tonight. After the three leads did their bows, I got excited when Arielle got hold of a mic, but all she ended up saying was “Come on, everybody!” End of music. Cue the confetti. In this club setting, this show needs a better send-off. I’d suggest some sort of remix a la Six."

Kind of funny that for all of the production’s arguments against hiring live musicians revolving around “this is karaoke!” that they end up cutting one of the most clearly karaoke-inspired moments of the show."

It’s kind of a baffling decision. 

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 2:23pm

BETTY22 said: "Don’t forget the $20 million it cost to renovate the theatre.This show has to be a monster hit to ever pay back.

Rumor is ‘Guys And Dolls’ from London is waiting in the wings to moved into this theatre after Here Lies Love closes."

Seems impossible for a traditional show to do well at the Broadway anymore, it would be great to leave it in this non-traditional format for a run of shows to take advantage of it. Maybe the next show could help pay towards Here Lies Loves' cost towards the transformation as part of their closing costs. (Or something like that.)

[DCS]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 2:30pm

everythingtaboo said: "BETTY22 said: "Don’t forget the $20 million it cost to renovate the theatre.This show has to be a monster hit to ever pay back.

Rumor is ‘Guys And Dolls’ from London is waiting in the wings to moved into this theatre after Here Lies Love closes."

Seems impossible for a traditional show to do well at the Broadway anymore, it would be great to leave it in this non-traditional format for a run of shows to take advantage of it. Maybe the next show could help pay towards Here Lies Loves' cost towards the transformation as part of their closing costs. (Or something like that.)"

As someone noted above, the current London revival of Guys & Dolls would be perfect for this space if HLL only makes it thru the end of the year (I'm expecting the reviews to be positive to mixed with most talking about what a unique and exciting experiment it is, which may drive ticket sales until 2024), which would then give time to set up Guys & Dolls in the same space for Spring.  I would guess the HLL producers would negotiate something with the G&D producers to cover some of the conversion costs.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 2:31pm

yyys said: "Where's the ideal spot on the floor?"

There's really no "ideal" spot since it depend what you want and also you'll be moving around throughout the show son one person's experience may not be the same as another's.  Arielle and Conrad's entrances are both closer to the "upstage" portion of the floor, near the back wall if you want to see them (Arielle starts kneeling so it was a bit hard to see her at first).  If you like general interaction with the cast, then I'd say stay as close to the center catwalk as possible, but if you'd rather not be moving around as much then stay more towards the outer perimeters of the floor.  If you want to see Lea Salonga close up then stay near the center of the floor after Gate 37, unless you're able to fit onto the platform in the back that they invite audience members up to. 

In general, I'd say staying halfway between the traditional stage area and the mezzanine overhang might be the best overall view, since it would make it easier to look back and forth between the two.  But for most things, I'd say keep an eye on your surroundings, since while a soloist might be singing, other characters may be doing things in the background.

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 2:40pm

I was thinking a bit about the ending of the show, and while I can kind of see how they thought Why Don't You Love Me would be a good ending for Imelda's arc (with everyone having turned against her for the atrocities she's committed), I think the way it plays out feels more sympathetic than they probably intended.  Like I heard someone walking out of the show saying they felt bad for her because she "tried her best".  It feels like they need more of a villain song where it's obvious she's lost sense of morality in the face of her own selfishness or something.

Additionally, with the discourse around the final Here Lies Love reprise, I'm wondering if they could flip the meaning of it a bit.  The show constructs Imelda as this person that did it all for love, but her "love" really just racked up a long list of criminal activities.  So what if during the final chorus of Here Lies Love, they list all the charges against her as like a "here is where her love lies, in graft/corruption/human rights abuses" moment.  It wouldn't even have to be a huge change, maybe just some projected text or something, but it could change how the ending comes off with the encore.  Probably not the most feel-good way to walk out of the show, but it doesn't seem like it should be a feel-good show either.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 3:32pm

I mean, the Marcoses were allies of the US and given shelter in Hawaii by the government when they fled. And now here is Imelda 30+ years later, the subject of a party-like show on Broadway while her son is leading the Philippines. Implicate the audience, implicate the country, in all this. Have people sing along to a boppy tune and then pull the rug out from under them. 

[Scott19]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 3:56pm

Kad said: "I mean, the Marcoses were allies of the US and given shelter in Hawaii by the government when they fled. And now here is Imelda 30+ years later, the subject of a party-like show on Broadway while her son is leading the Philippines. Implicate the audience, implicate the country, in all this. Have people sing along to a boppy tune and then pull the rug out from under them."

This. 100 %.

[akhoya87]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 5:07pm

chrishuyen said: "I was thinking a bit about the ending of the show, and while I can kind of see how they thought Why Don't You Love Me would be a good ending for Imelda's arc (with everyone having turned against her for the atrocities she's committed), I think the way it plays out feels more sympathetic than they probably intended. Like I heard someone walking out of the show saying they felt bad for her because she "tried her best". It feels like they need more of a villain song where it's obvious she's lost sense of morality in the face of her own selfishness or something.


I think this was the main problem for me.  Some spoilers ahead. 

The story really relies on the music, but the music doesn't give Imelda a true "heel turn" moment.  By the time we get to "Why Don't You Love Me," the song feels abrupt and/or unearned.

Sure, she's cruel to her childhood friend and Aquino (in a moment that could ambiguously be seen as a moment of political mercy), but those scenes felt like cheap exposition given that it's the music that's supposed to move the show along.  

I know it's not really fair to compare the two shows, but I kept thinking about Evita.  Obviously, it depends entirely on how the show's directed, but the Act II songs in Evita build up to Eva's villainy, as you slowly start to revile her in Rainbow High/Rainbow Tour/Waltz for Che and Eva.   

I didn't get that gradualism in Here Lies Love.  Poor Me and Seven Years are songs that could make Imelda seem sympathetic, even though in the former (as the cheated-on wife), she's seizing power, and in the latter, she's exiling Aquino (as a power move thinly veiled as an act of political mercy). 

The way Please Don't is directed makes her seem mildly sympathetic, especially to an audience that's really only half paying attention to the plot.  My jaw dropped when 3/4ths of the floor crowd bopped along to Please Don't, which is a song where Imelda's trying to shore up her authoritarianism by casting herself as the victim. 

So the songs don't really give me a reason to hate Imelda, which, by the time she's wailing "Why Don't You Love Me?," I find myself asking myself the same question.  It didn't come off as a song where Imelda's trying to take stock of her downfall; it came off as Imelda being whiny.  (This is not a knock on Arielle Jacobs, who sang it well -- this is more a comment on the direction and the tone of the song itself.)

Sure, Riots & Bombs and Order 1081 try to paint the horrors of the Marcos regime.  But being told that Imelda is a terrible person who, with her husband, did terrible things, and seeing it for ourselves, are two different things.  

(EDIT:  Also, the joke's ultimately on me, as I'm going to see this again after it opens -- mostly in the spirit of second chances, and to see what they change.  So they're getting my money either way.)

Updated On: 7/8/23 at 05:07 PM

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 6:47pm

Arielle Jacobs, Jose Llana and Conrad Ricamora open up about ''Here Lies Love.'' Arielle discusses the many challenges of playing Imelda, which include 22 costume changes in 90 minutes. Jose and Conrad tackle the importance of telling this story, and how 80%-90% of the lyrics are taken from what the Marcoses, Aquino said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESaaN7HFhgE

Updated On: 7/8/23 at 06:47 PM

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 9:37pm

Interestingly, Reddit seems much more against the reprise. 

[starlightlocamotion]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 10:28pm

I just don't really understand the argument that by doing a reprise of the title song the show is 'pro-marcos'. The entire show is set in a club...totally understand if conversations have been had and that is the decision the cast/crew/creatives feel comfortable with. But is there really no alternative? It just seems odd to me to for the show to end on such a mellow note when the whole conceit of the show is a disco karaoke retelling?? It's giving if ACL just ended without the reprise of ONE. But again...if that is what the deem best for the political stance of the show, I completely understand.

[bwaylyric]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 11:04pm

Without the reprise, the three leads looked lost up there with that awkward choreo that looked improvised. 

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 7/8/23 at 11:29pm

“Here Lies Love” was written using direct quotes from Imelda painting herself in a good/sympathetic light, so that’s why it’s a controversial way to end the show, no matter how much of a bop it is.

[Voter]

Posted: 7/9/23 at 6:11am

I will say one thing and one thing only after trying floor tickets yesterday and only lasting to the third song: there are TOO MANY people crammed in the floor seating right now. It. Is. Not. Safe.

Updated On: 7/9/23 at 06:11 AM

[JBM84]

Posted: 7/9/23 at 8:17am

Good news, instagram shows they got a new reprise up. It's a dance remix to Please Don't.

[Owen22]

Posted: 7/9/23 at 9:40am

(Some spoilers ahead)

I saw it last night.  Wonderful.  I'd forgotten, cause I didn't have a great time on the dance floor in London.  However, the TDF sitting discount seat had me ALL the way against the wall in the far top tier. I could not see the video screens, and during Imelda's beauty pageant, curtains came down to further block my view.  However, Imelda did walk RIGHT in front of me after Aquino is killed with a chilling look on her face that obviously made her complicit in the assassination, something I'm not sure I ever considered.
The last song has always moved me; it's lyrics are actual statements made by the Filipino people after they were released from the oppression of the Marcos regime.  But before the song, the lead singer, who had been our DJ throughout the evening (using him for some reason made it all the more moving) states that Imelda's toying-with-fascism son is now the President of the Philippines, how we forget history and that many Western countries, including the US, are having their democracies under threat.  So I was openly weeping by the end of the song.
Arielle is very good, but she isn't Ruthie. I fell in love with Ricamora all over again.


I came here to post this review to see there is a lot of talk about something I noticed, but easily reconciled. The show no longer ends with the Here Lies Love reprise.  It's such an earworm you WANT to hear it again.  But apropos to what I wrote above:  You don't want to see Imelda sing how she does everything for love (liar) after "God Draws Straight".  This show is a political treatise disguised as an immersive dance musical.  It has more on it's mind than I actually ever really realized.  I was afraid the recent union busting controversy may have soured me on Here Lies Love.  No. I adore this show.

Updated On: 7/9/23 at 09:40 AM

[yyys]

Posted: 7/9/23 at 10:41am

I think Circle in the Square Theater might have been a better venue for this and way less money spent on renovations. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 7/9/23 at 10:50am

yyys said: "I think Circle in the Square Theater might have been a better venue for this and way less money spent on renovations."

Well it seems very likely that the creative team and producers would have considered this and concluded otherwise.