“He’s seen it 15 times.”
Here Lies Loveis ready to shake up Broadway to a disco beat.
In 2015, it played London.
‘Here Lies Love’ boasts an immersive set.Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman (2023)
That’s because it’s no run-of-the-mill biographical musical.
No proscenium with tiered seats to be seen.
How does it feel to be back in that mode?
Conrad Ricamora in ‘Here Lies Love’.Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman (2023)
CONRAD RICAMORA:It’s super exciting.
Now we’re a part of that and they’re coming to see our show.
This is your third time doingHere Lies Love, after off-Broadway and Seattle.
Arielle Jacobs and Jose Llana in ‘Here Lies Love’.Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman (2023)
This time we have the benefit of having done it before and knowing that it works.
The first workshop we did, we were just kind of like, “What is this?
We have no idea what this is going to be, if it’s going to be good.”
Jose Llana in ‘Here Lies Love’.Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman (2023)
We were trying to figure out where we were entering and exiting before, in the previous incarnations.
What keeps you coming back to the show?
My dad was a single dad.
The cast of ‘Here Lies Love’.Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman (2023)
He came over from the Philippines when he was 10 years old.
He never talked to us much about the Philippines growing up.
This show is so personal to my life and to my own relationship with my dad.
Arielle Jacobs in ‘Here Lies Love’.Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman (2023)
He’s seen it 15 times.
That’s the driving force to me.
You have been playing this part for 10 years now.
Moses Villarama in ‘Here Lies Love’.Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman (2023)
How much does just being older and having more life experience under your belt impact your performance?
Well, I just got married.
Actually just this past Friday, I got married.
Lea Salonga and the cast of ‘Here Lies Love’.Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman (2023)
It’s also really revolutionary in terms of staging and design.
This is the first time a Broadway house is converting itself into this more immersive environment.
It was the biggest learning experience a lot of time.
The energy is palpable coming off of them.
Ruthie Ann Miles was your original Imelda.
But this feels like a very new chapter, and Arielle [Jacobs] is bringing something completely different.
It’s easy when you’ve done a show before to be in a pattern and a comfortable track.
I feel lucky to be creating it again with a new person playing Imelda.
What is your response to that and its message now with these new political developments?
What do you hope people ultimately learn or take away from the show after seeing it?
Well, I hope that they go online and research more about what happened.
This is the first all-Filipino cast on Broadway.
How meaningful is that to be a part of that milestone?
It’s super profound and very meaningful.
The Philippines has been colonized by so many different countries.
