Joan Almedilla remembers her New York roommate mentioning a song cycle concert by pop icon David Byrne about Imelda Marcos for which the Filipino performer might want to audition.
Born in 1973 when Ferdinand Marcos was president of the Philippines and Imelda was first lady, Almedilla was a child during the powerful couple’s strong rule of the country.
Several years later, in 2007, Almedilla was singing as Imelda on the Carnegie Hall stage, Byrne to her left and actor Ganda Suthivarakom to her right, delivering the first performance of the songs for “Here Lies Love.”
Now, Almedilla is returning to the work, this time as Aurora Aquino, mother of Marcos opposition leader Ninoy Aquino, who was assassinated in 1983.
Helmed by Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Snehal Desai, and also starring Chris Renfro as Ferdinand Marcos, “Here Lies Love” begins previews Feb. 11 at Downtown’s Mark Taper Forum.
The immersive one-act set to disco-style music examines the rise and fall of Imelda Marcos. After many years of other high-profile productions, “Here Lies Love” made it to Broadway in 2023 and earned four Tony nominations, including best original score by Byrne and Fatboy Slim.
Joan Almedilla stars as Aurora Aquino in the musical “Here Lies Love,” with music by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, running Feb. 11 – March 22 at the Mark Taper Forum.
(Joan Almedilla/Submitted)
When she originally auditioned, Almedilla remembers immediately liking Byrne’s non-traditional musical theater style.
“At that time, you had the experience of watching ‘Rent,’ which was like rock,” she said. “And it was like, what else is the new thing? I thought as an art form, it was unique. I was so fascinated by the storytelling through pop and disco. You’re so used to traditional musical theater, but this music is mind bending, like your mind is like ‘this is not what I’m used to.’”
One of the more visible actors on Los Angeles stages in the last two decades, Almedilla was already a celebrated veteran before moving from New York. Her U.S. career began with a storybook discovery by a producer for “Miss Saigon” while singing at the Apollo Theater just a year after leaving the Philippines.
Also, the first Asian actor to portray Fantine in the North American tour of “Les Misérables,” Almedilla has been in recent years a mainstay at Downtown’s East West Players.
But it’s “Here Lies Love” that has perhaps the most direct connection to her past. She was nine years old when Ninoy Aquino was killed, and that has triggered memories during rehearsals.
“Every day, it’s like this is the chunk of my childhood that was so important to me,” she said. “And I sat there last week, when the actors started singing, I would just cry. I wasn’t looking for this missing puzzle in my life, but it’s such an important part of my life for me to know what happened.”
A connection to his Filipino culture was also part of what excited Renfro to be part of the cast.
“As a Filipino person, there aren’t a lot of explicitly written roles for Filipino people in the theater or TV,” said Renfro, who debuted on Broadway in “Oh, Mary!” and appeared in the 2022 reboot of “Queer as Folk.” “So, it was just such a no-brainer. I had auditioned for the Broadway show a couple years ago, so this feels like finally a full circle moment a couple years in the making for me.”
For Broadway, Renfro initially auditioned for the DJ, a character that has been altered, as Desai has changed the location from a disco to a more underground warehouse party with a host, played by Aura Mayari. The atmosphere, Renfro said, would look familiar to those who know Filipino TV.
“Moving from the disco immersive into this more traditional proscenium made sense once Snehal led us to the concept he was playing with, which is like a traditional noon time talk show slash game show variety show that happens in the Philippines,” Renfro said. “So, it suddenly makes even more sense why the music is the way it is and why the presentation is the way it is, and it feels more like it culturally aligns.”
To help develop that atmosphere, Desai recruited choreographer William Carlos Angulo, who said he’s never worked on a musical like it. He didn’t know what Annie-B Parson created for the recent Broadway run.
“I can kind of imagine what she did, but we are effectively treating this production like a new world premiere,” Angulo said. “It’s a brand-new idea. It’s a brand new team. So, it almost wouldn’t even be useful to take a look at what Annie did for the original.”
For inspiration, Angulo read the 100-page book that came with the original concept album, which included historical stories from Imelda’s life and from the Marcos regime, as well as Byrne’s creative process behind each song.
“And then we sort of started fresh and did our own historical dives,” he said. “Once we created a container for the piece, a variety show or a daytime television show, we could focus on the story.”
Almedilla, Renfro and Angulo agree it’s the story that drives the piece, and how it seems particularly relevant in today’s America.
“It’s telling a story through pop music and disco to relive what happened,” Almedilla said. “I want to encourage the Filipino community to come. And for the non-Filipinos, there’s so many things they can relate to. If you look at the times that we’re living in, in our country, there’s some kind of parallel, you know, of what’s happening.”
“Here Lies Love”
WHEN: Various times; Feb. 11-March 22
WHERE: Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
COST: Tickets start at $40.25
INFO: 213-628-2772, centertheatregroup.org