‘Right here Lies Love’ assessment: David Byrne musical makes Broadway a nightclub

Name it Studio 53. 

For the Imelda Marcos bio-musical “Right here Lies Love,” which opened Thursday night time a block away from the nightclub-turned-venue Studio 54, the Broadway Theatre has been reworked into an attractive discotheque. 

All 900 of the orchestra seats have been unprecedentedly ripped out and changed by a dance ground, the place throngs of individuals groove to the music of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim whereas the life story of the controversial former first woman of the Philippines unfolds round them.

(There are seats within the balcony and on the facet for individuals who are usually not fairly prepared for his or her close-up.) 

At first the shimmering redesign is overwhelming to absorb — a formidable feat of invention from set designer David Korins that homes an undeniably gratifying present a few dictator’s spouse dwelling lavishly in full view of her struggling folks.

The room we not so way back watched “West Aspect Story” and “Fiddler on the Roof” in is completely unrecognizable.

As soon as we’re acclimated to the modified house, nevertheless, we begin to ask extra of the story. Broadway, in spite of everything, is a vastly totally different place than the Public Theater the place I first noticed the musical within the smaller LuEsther Corridor 10 years in the past and preferred it a hair extra. A number of the intimate downtown appeal of the immersive present has not made the trek from Eighth Avenue to considered one of Midtown’s largest homes. 

And standing within the theater that after hosted the unique manufacturing of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Evita” — the same story about Argentina’s power-hungry first woman Eva Peron — makes you crave a stronger perspective on Marcos, moderately than simply an excuse for social gathering time. The musical, considerably shallowly, paints the girl as a kindly sufferer who was swept up by the decadence and momentum as a lot as we’re.

That apart, it’s certainly awfully simple to lose your self to the glamorous escape that director Alex Timbers (“Moulin Rouge”) and his crew have so splendidly constructed, accompanied by a devilishly catchy rating.

“Right here Lies Love” — the phrase now-94-year-old Marcos has mentioned she desires engraved on her gravestone — jauntily traces Imelda’s (Arielle Jacobs) origins from a bit lady who wore “hand-me-downs and scraps” after her household’s fortune dried as much as a hot-button worldwide icon. 

She turns into a magnificence pageant contestant and dates promising politician Ninoy Aquino (the all the time wonderful Conrad Ricamora), who will get the viewers chanting “Give our folks a break!”

Aquino’s music has probably the most recognizably “Speaking Heads” sound of Byrne’s rating, significantly the haunting spoken-word quantity “The Fabulous One,” and Ricamora has the best stump-speech voice to promote it.

Imelda then catches the attention of rising star Ferdinand Marcos (Jose Llana). They marry and he wins the 1965 presidential election, partially because of his new spouse’s hovering recognition.

The zippy, fairytale first half is advised fully in pulsing music — and no spoken scenes — with the vibe of a vogue week runway, because the fabulous forged struts and dances up and down elevated catwalks. The levels rotate and the standing viewers strikes round with them. All of the whereas, we change into the residents and cameras movie us shaking fingers with Ferdinand and Imelda at spirited rallies.

Then the smile fades, and the songs change into much less chipper, as Imelda’s out-of-control spending is criticized (a massively costly cultural middle, 3,000 pairs of sneakers) and grasping Ferdinand declares martial legislation to maintain his perch.

Lea Salonga, as Aquino’s mom, has a strong ballad that’s a grounded break from all of the mania.

Jacobs shines (with the assistance of Justin Townsend’s dazzling, club-drug lighting) finest as Imelda in her early optimistic days, carefree and rainbow excessive. Her pure singing voice radiates chance and that titular “Love.”

The actress is just not fairly as formidable when Imelda turns into the grandiose lady the world is now acquainted with, and is pressured to confront the darkness of her husband’s extra-marital affair and the Individuals’s Energy Revolution of 1986.

Nonetheless, even when “Right here Lies Love” doesn’t attain the emotional highs of “Evita” (one cause it will possibly’t is that, not like Eva Peron, Marcos is alive and effectively and with a son, Bongbong, who’s the present president of the Philippines), it’s a ravishing sensory expertise not like another. 

You’ll stroll out on the finish with no modified opinion of Imelda Marcos, however as an alternative along with your eyes opened concerning the countless prospects for Broadway theaters.