Tony winner Clint Ramos staging Imelda musical ‘Here Lies Love’ on Broadway

Filipino American Clint Ramos is a Tony Award winning costume designer. CONTRIBUTED

NEW YORK — Filipino American Tony Award winner Clint Ramos is producing the first musical on Broadway that tackles Philippine history. “Here Lies Love,” a disco pop musical about the life of Imelda Marcos and the People Power Revolution, is slated to begin performances in June at the Broadway Theatre.

The show opened off-Broadway in 2013 and won the Village Voice Obie award for music (David Byrne and Norman “Fatboy Slim” Cook) and lyrics (Byrne).

Ramos is once again designing the costumes for the show. He designed the costumes for the 2013 run, for which he won the 2014 Lucille Lortel award. Critics lauded his work as “vast and fabulous” (New York Times), “[providing] beautiful symmetry” (The Hollywood Reporter), and “top-notch” (New York Magazine). The show was then staged in London’s West End in 2014 and then in Seattle in 2017.

Ramos won the 2016 Tony Award for costume design of a play for “Eclipsed,” written by Danai Gurira (Okoye in “Black Panther”).

The show’s unique set design and staging will require removing seats from the venue’s existing space in order to transform it into a dance club environment where audiences will stand and move with the actors. A wide variety of standing and seating options will be available for audiences.

Filipino American Jaygee Macapugay played Imelda Marcos in a previous staging of “Here Lies Love.” INSTAGRAM

Direction is by Alex Timbers (Tony Award for “Moulin Rouge!”) and set design is by David Korins (“Hamilton,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Beetlejuice”).

History lessons

Casting has not yet been announced. Fil-Am creative team members include music director J. Oconer Navarro, assistant director Billy Bustamante and casting director Gail Quintos.

Fil-Am Pulitzer Prize winner Jose Antonio Vargas is also a producer. Co-producers include Miranda Gohh, Celia Kaleialoha Kenney and Rob Laqui.

“Exciting lessons are often learned through uniquely surprising works of art,” says Ramos. “Nothing is more surprising than the way ‘Here Lies Love’ vibrantly and creatively sheds light on a crucial part of Philippine history. Jose and I are so proud to help bring forth this singularly original show.”

Vargas, founder of immigration organization Define American, says, “Filipinos are among the largest immigrant groups in America—and also among the most invisible culturally, despite the two nations’ shared colonial histories. While the Asian diaspora can no longer be denied in American popular culture, Filipinas and Filipinos remain woefully outside the spotlight. I’m thrilled to help break barriers on what has historically been an exclusive stage: Broadway.”

Co-producer Giselle “G” Töngi, who also serves as the production’s Cultural and Community Liaison, says, “Theater has always been a vehicle to spark conversation and I am fully behind art as a way to think critically. People Power happened and I was there for it so I am fully aware and will never forget.”

In a statement, the producers said, “”As a team of binational American producers—Filipinos among us—we are thrilled to bring ‘Here Lies Love’ to Broadway! We welcome everyone to experience this singularly exuberant piece of theater. The history of the Philippines is inseparable from the history of the United States, and as both evolve, we cannot think of a more appropriate time to stage this show.”

Visit HereLiesLoveBroadway.com and follow @herelieslovebway on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.