Disco musical on Imelda’s life in NY theater

MANILA, Philippines - Former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos is turning 84 this year and there is no sign she will ever consider retirement from public life.

In the coming May 13 elections, she is seeking a second term as congresswoman in the second district of Ilocos Norte after representing her home province, Leyte, some years back.

Two Filipino writers, Kerima Polotan and Carmen Pedrosa, have written the biography of the country’s most-talked first lady and it is most likely, another edition is in order.

But the big news in the theater circuit in the US is that a disco opera (it is also known as a song cycle) titled Here Lies Love by British producer Fatboy Slim and American musician David Byrne has opened at The Public Theater in New York.

The Imelda disco musical is directed by Alex Timbers (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) with choreography by Annie-B Parson.

Within a pulsating dance club atmosphere, said the theater press release, Byrne and Fatboy Slim will deconstruct the astonishing journey of Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos, retracing her meteoric rise to power and subsequent descent into infamy and disgrace at the end of the People Power Revolution.

The complete cast of Here Lies Love features Renée Albulario (ensemble), Melody Butiu (ensemble), Natalie Cortez (ensemble), Debralee Daco (ensemble), Joshua Dela Cruz (ensemble), Jose Llana (Ferdinand Marcos), Kelvin Moon Loh (ensemble), Jeigh Madjus (ensemble), Ruthie Ann Miles (Imelda Marcos), Maria-Christina Oliveras (ensemble), Conrad Ricamora (Aquino), Trevor Salter (ensemble) and Janelle Velasquez (ensemble).

Moreover, the musical started as a concept album in 2006 featuring many guest female singers like Cyndi Lauper, Florence Welch and Santigold, alternately playing the roles of Imelda and her servant, Estrella Cumpas, in each of the tracks.

In the introduction to the album, Byrne said: “The story I am interested in is about asking what drives a powerful person — what makes them tick? How do they make and then remake themselves? I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great if —  as this piece would be principally composed of clubby dance music — one could experience it in a club setting? Could one bring a ‘story’ and a kind of theater to the disco? Was that possible? If so, wouldn’t that be amazing!”

Llana (he was the male lead in Flower Drum Song opposite Lea Salonga) plays President Marcos with Miles as Imelda Marcos.

Going over a few songs in the disco musical, one is astonished at how the librettist managed to sum up Imelda’s life in the two-track album.

It is obvious the musical got much of its materials from the Pedrosa book.

The opening song Here Lies Love echoes Imelda’s obscure days in a garage near Malacañang:

When I was a young girl in Leyte

My dresses were all hand-me-downs and scraps

I’d see the people smile, when I would sing for them

How happy they all seemed — when I would dance

Is it a sin to love too much?

Is it a sin to care?

I do it all for you

How can it be unfair?

I know that when my number’s up

When I am called by God above

Don’t have my name inscribed into the stone

Just say:

Here lies love…here lies love…here lies love —

The most telling song is the duet of Imelda with her former maid, Estrella Cumpas, whose life became miserable when she recounted Imelda’s life to biographer Pedrosa.

The song echoing Imelda’s San Miguel days:

Estrella & Imelda:

They called us garage people

Where we lived there, you and me

When you’re poor — it’s like you’re naked

And every drop of rain you feel

Estrella:

When it rained we slept on boxes

There was water all around

Imelda:

But the people in the big house

Never bothered to find out

No clothes, no bed, no jewelry

Sometimes I had no shoes

Estrella:

A typhoon came — the house collapsed

And the neighbors passed us food

Estrella & Imelda:

They called us garage people

Where we lived there, you and me

When you’re poor — it’s like you’re naked

And every drop of rain you feel

The 11-day courtship between the former president and first lady is highlighted in the disco musical song Eleven Days:

He’s so fast, tell me what’s his name?

It was only a moment, but I don’t feel the same

He gave me — two roses

He gave me — two roses

One is open

One is closed

One is the future

And — one is my love —

Eleven days — since the moment we met

Eleven days — I will never forget

Eleven diamonds — on the ring that he gave

I haven’t seen him — in

Eleven days

Eleven days

Without a doubt, Here Lies Love is another look at the life and times of Imelda Marcos with a disco setting. It sure is not anything as grand as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita, but for once you get to realize that a character like the former first lady comes only once or twice in a century.

The 85-minute Here Lies Love runs at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street (between Astor Place and 4th St.) New York, NY until May 19 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 5 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. with tel. no. (212) 967-7555.