Concept

Immersive Art in Theater: Here Lies Love’s Interactive Stage Design

a 90-minute production, Here Lies Love is a Broadway musical telling the story of Imelda Marcos and the People Power Revolution through an immersive disco-like stage design

July 13, 2023

Shan Arcega

Almost everyone lives a fast-paced life in this modern age. Within our lives nowadays, there are rare moments when we don’t feel incomplete when we’re not clutching our phones or at least have them nearby. Some people make it a point to push their phones away and fully immerse themselves in various activities that pull them back to connections with other people. For some, these activities include a few hours of watching a theater play.

There are many different types of theater stages. From the old and flamboyant proscenium stage and the refreshing open-air theater to the interactive promenade theaters where the audience moves from place to place and follows the actors, the theater is the most immersive and collaborative form of art there is and has been regarded by poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde, as the most immediate way humans can celebrate their genuine humanity with each other. For centuries, Broadway has been the hub for the best playwrights to let their creativity explode and form some of the most memorable plays society has seen.

Among the large number of plays shown here include the most recent Here Lies Love–a musical revolving around the journey of the First Lady Imelda Marcos, Ninoy Aquino, Martial Law, and the People Power Revolution. Conceptualized in 2013 by Academy, Grammy, and Tony Award winner David Bryne and Grammy Award winner Fatboy Slim who engineered the disco beats from the musical, the musical had such a complicated stage design that, for the longest time, it wasn’t deemed fit for New York’s midtown Manhattan area until the Broadway Theatre owned by the Shubert Organization presented a space that was fit for the musical’s disco-like stage design.

One of Broadway’s largest venues, the Broadway Theatre can seat over 1,700 people and is historically known for hosting other big design projects like hosting Eugene Lee’s multi-layer set for an all-surrounding version of Candide in 1974. With scenic designer David Korins, they rebuilt the theater to fit the ambitious set design which Korins commented to be one hundred times more complicated than other equally ambitious and difficult sets he’s previously worked on. So how exactly did the team renovate the Broadway Theater to house this musical’s world?

Clearing the space

*these 900 orchestral seats were transferred to an off-site storage space.*

The crew started off by removing the theater’s 900 seats to give space for the stage platform that goes through the proscenium arch and through the rest of the theater. They also set up the steel superstructure that would hold up the galleries and stage surrounding it.

Installing the new skeleton

*Here Lies Love is set in a traditional proscenium theater.*

The skeleton is made up of thousands of linear feet of steel which were all assembled off-site before being brought into the Broadway Theatre and installed during the entirety of March and April. The production also added wheelchair lifts to allow access to the seats in the mezzanine that looks down on the stage.

Designing to surround the audience

*To make sure that the audience doesn’t miss critical moments, “audience wranglers” wearing pink jumpsuits redirect people before the critical scene.*

In this interactive and immersive musical, ensemble members will have platforms on the dance floor and a mezzanine surrounding the audience. As a show that intends to host about 1,100 audience members with around 300 standing on the dance floor, the production also projects videos on the walls and on screens in the mezzanine to keep the show immersive for all.

Polishing the dance club

*Many people apparently came to see the show many times but in different places to see the scenes from different angles.*

The giant disco ball was the first one installed during the polishing phase. Following that are the rectangular gray hallways which were previously where the rear orchestra was placed. Now, this hallway will meet the incoming audience members heading towards the dance floor designed to resemble the entrance to an ordinary club. In the lobby are video screens portraying a basic history of the Marcos family’s dictatorial regime alongside America’s involvement in Philippine history. One video presents Imelda dancing with a series of American presidents as part of her soft power campaign with U.S. leaders.

Though it has quite an interesting stage design, the musical itself has been criticized by some for de-emphasizing the atrocities committed by the Marcos family.

Photos from Here Lies Love’s official Facebook page. Courtesy of SHIRA FRIEDMAN PHOTOGRAPHY.

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