The subject matter was emotionally taxing for some, but at the time, Dela Cruz said, \u201cit was something that happened.\u201d Past-tense. <\/p>\n
Now, as he takes the stage in a new Center Theatre Group production as the late anti-Marcos leader Ninoy Aquino, he said, \u201cit\u2019s something that\u2019s happening\u201d \u2014 and not just in the Philippines. <\/p>\n
\u201cHere Lies Love,\u201d which opens Wednesday at the Mark Taper Forum, three years after its Broadway debut, is arriving in downtown L.A. at a prescient moment. Protests have erupted throughout the U.S. in response to an ongoing federal immigration crackdown that some characterize as part of a broader push toward authoritarian rule<\/a>. Meanwhile, across the globe<\/a>, Marcos\u2019 son, Philippine President Bongbong Marcos, and Vice President Sara Duterte, face twin impeachment complaints accusing them of high-level corruption and other violations of public trust.<\/p>\n \u201cHere Lies Love\u201d is directed by Center Theatre Group\u2019s artistic director, Snehal Desai. <\/p>\n (Etienne Laurent \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Similar events worldwide have dovetailed with the narrative landscape of the musical, which centers on the dictator\u2019s wife, Imelda Marcos, her rise to power and her fall from grace. It\u2019s also staged to implicate the audience in the Marcos\u2019 ascension to office, ultimately revealing how corrupt leaders often appear charming at first. The production, directed by CTG\u2019s artistic director, Snehal Desai, is drenched in glitz and glamour that conceals its darker themes \u2014 until it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Desai chose \u201cHere Lies Love\u201d for this season long before President Trump deployed National Guard troops throughout the country, just as he selected CTG\u2019s July production \u201cJaja\u2019s African Hair Braiding\u201d<\/a> \u2014 which ends with its titular character being taken into ICE custody \u2014 ahead of last summer\u2019s immigration raids in L.A. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have a crystal ball. I\u2019m planning based on where I feel like we are, and what are the conversations we\u2019re going to need,\u201d Desai said during a recent \u201cHere Lies Love\u201d rehearsal break, noting that in the number \u201cGod Draws Straight\u201d the lyrics talk about nuns and priests from the church leading the resistance, which mirrors the current moment in America.<\/p>\n \u201cThe playbook, which is political assassinations, it is censorship, it is martial law, is literally what we\u2019re seeing happen,\u201d Desai said. <\/p>\n Two weeks before opening night, the \u201cHere Lies Love\u201d cast plunged through the musical\u2019s latter half before a lunch break. <\/p>\n They rehearsed in a small room in CTG\u2019s annex building on Temple Street, which Desai said was shut down during last summer\u2019s ICE protests. Ensemble members donned flared heels, Onitsuka Tigers, cloud slides and other shoes that evoke Imelda\u2018s infamous 3,000-pair collection, intentionally left unmentioned in Byrne\u2019s musical. <\/p>\n \u201cI hope that people that are Asian or Filipino leave with a sense of pride seeing themselves reflected on stage,\u201d Joshua Dela Cruz said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re half or a quarter or an eighth, you\u2019re Filipino. And this is our culture and our history that we carry.\u201d<\/p>\n (Etienne Laurent \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n The actors glided across the makeshift stage with panache, sparing no vocal force as they sung through the uptempo track \u201cPlease Don\u2019t\u201d and the acoustic ballad \u201cGod Draws Straight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou can tell that they want it to be really good,\u201d choreographer William Carlos Angulo said. <\/p>\n Indeed, the show\u2019s leads said they felt a particular loyalty to the L.A. production, which is being performed in the city with the largest Filipino population outside the Philippines, amounting to over 500,000 residents.<\/p>\n Reanne Acasio, who plays Imelda, said that her role is far more delicate than her recent historic turns<\/a> as each of the Schuyler sisters in Broadway\u2019s \u201cHamilton.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDoing a show that talks about historical events with people who are all long gone by now is a very different experience than [performing for] people who are still traumatized by these events,\u201d Acasio said. <\/p>\n![\"Center](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771404920_634_.jpeg\")
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