Ashley Ha and Aaliyah Elbert are super fans of Here Lies Love. Ashley saw it 7 times, and Aaliyah 61 times.
In this episode, they talk through each song, what different lyrics mean, and how the show has affected them. Listen as they dissect each song and talk about what is happening onstage versus what is being said.
HERE LIES LOVE on Broadway is a new musical with music and lyrics by the collaboration of David Byrne from the Talking Heads and English DJ Fatboy Slim that details the rise and fall of the Marcos administration in the Philippines and the People Power Revolution in 1986 that ended the 21-year long dictatorship.
HERE LIES LOVE made Broadway history as it is the first show to have an all-Filipino cast telling a Filipino story. This disco musical not only illustrates the fragility of democracy but alerts us as audience members how history can and will repeat itself. Moses Villarama, who plays the DJ, in a rallying cry reminds the audience that, while democracy is under threat, not just all over the world, but even in America, it is “only as strong as the people,” giving the audience a gentle nudge to let us know that we, as the people, have the power to keep democracy intact.
Ashley Ha is an 18-year-old Taiwanese American performer, content creator, and activist. She is most known as the founder of the widely recognized Broadway Instagram account broadway_corner. Ashley also attends Boston Conservatory where she is studying musical theatre. She is a co-host of ZPodway, a Broadway podcast that began in the midst of the pandemic. She is an advocate for representation onstage, onscreen, and in the media.