What do you get when you mix two parts Talking Heads concept album with a bloody presidential regime and a British DJ? An immersive musical theater production composed by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love tells the story of the late Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ wife, Imelda Marcos, through karaoke, disco dancing, and a lot of projectors. Aggressively original, this show spans countless genres in its genuine effort to convey the story of the Filipino people under the Marcos regime.

Here Lies Love is a strange combination of traditional theater, with its almost operatic, exclusively song based plot and choreographed dance scenes, while also fiercely avant-garde, what with the audience participation, the movable stage, and the use of multi-media to show historical clips and pre-recorded audio. Unlike some immersive productions, Here Lies Love is firstly a performance, and secondly an experience. The constant, almost desensitizing stimulation of each scene captures the audience’s attention, and the fact that dancing is encouraged (and occasionally requested) certainly adds to the mood, but is by no means more entertaining than what’s happening on the elevated blocks which constitute the stage. Indeed, the setup up the theater necessitates that the majority of the audience (about a quarter are seated in boxes above the floor) be standing and moving, to make way for the mobile stage.

Although the show’s current run at the Public Theater constitutes Here Lies Love’s theatrical premiere, the soundtrack had its debut in 2010 as an album featuring a different female vocalist (and one male, not including David Byrne) on every track. Such disparate vocals as Sharon Jones, Florence Welch, Santigold, Cyndi Lauper, and Tori Amos give each song a distinct and separate feel, but the catchy, pop foundation and simple melodic structure, in addition to the story line ensure that there is unity between the tracks, despite the odds. The lyrical content is a testament to Byrne’s musical genius: only he could pull off enjoyable music about events largely unknown to most listeners, such as Proclamation No. 1081, a martial law enacted by Marcos to allowing him to remain in power, or a 1948 beauty pageant where Imelda was crowned the “Rose of Tacloban”. The title song Here Lies Love refers to a comment made by Imelda during while visiting her husband’s embalmed body, where she expressed she’d like the phrase “Here Lies Love” to be inscribed on her tombstone.

The rock opera version has a single actress per character, which makes more sense than attempting to replicate the diversity of artists singing for different characters on the album. Although having multiple actresses per character would certainly be an interesting idea, it is not very plausible and the show is exciting enough already, that would likely make it more distracting than entertaining.

The audience itself was surprisingly old. For a show which seems to go right along with innovative, break-the-mold trends in modern culture, from music to clothing to dance, it would seem that no matter how exciting a theater performance is, young people are still a difficult audience to attract.

Here Lies Love is certainly unique among albums, among performances, and among shows at the Public Theater. David Byrne’s ideas are very much self-actualized in this production, and the result is not only stimulating but also deeply thought provoking about the lengths to which creativity can be used to remember history and explore characters in unlikely ways. In Byrne’s own words regarding the album:

The story I am interested in is 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!