Entertainment
‘Here Lies Love’ finally lands in L.A. — with its musical take on corruption as relevant as ever
The first time David Byrne’s disco musical “Here Lies Love” was publicly staged at Mass MoCA in 2012, Josh Dela Cruz was a bright-eyed ensemble actor thrilled by the novelty of joining a majority-Filipino cast.
Like many recent theater school grads, Dela Cruz was still trying to find his niche as a performer, oscillating between the pursuits of ethnic ambiguity — a casting asset — and cultural identity. But in post-rehearsal chow-downs with his fellow cast members, he felt at ease as his peers spoke about their Filipino upbringings and their experiences processing the show, which chronicles the rise and fall of the infamous Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The subject matter was emotionally taxing for some, but at the time, Dela Cruz said, “it was something that happened.” Past-tense.
Now, as he takes the stage in a new Center Theatre Group production as the late anti-Marcos leader Ninoy Aquino, he said, “it’s something that’s happening” — and not just in the Philippines.
“Here Lies Love,” which opens Wednesday at the Mark Taper Forum, three years after its Broadway debut, is arriving in downtown L.A. at a prescient moment. Protests have erupted throughout the U.S. in response to an ongoing federal immigration crackdown that some characterize as part of a broader push toward authoritarian rule. Meanwhile, across the globe, Marcos’ son, Philippine President Bongbong Marcos, and Vice President Sara Duterte, face twin impeachment complaints accusing them of high-level corruption and other violations of public trust.
“Here Lies Love” is directed by Center Theatre Group’s artistic director, Snehal Desai.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
Similar events worldwide have dovetailed with the narrative landscape of the musical, which centers on the dictator’s wife, Imelda Marcos, her rise to power and her fall from grace. It’s also staged to implicate the audience in the Marcos’ ascension to office, ultimately revealing how corrupt leaders often appear charming at first. The production, directed by CTG’s artistic director, Snehal Desai, is drenched in glitz and glamour that conceals its darker themes — until it doesn’t.
Desai chose “Here Lies Love” for this season long before President Trump deployed National Guard troops throughout the country, just as he selected CTG’s July production “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” — which ends with its titular character being taken into ICE custody — ahead of last summer’s immigration raids in L.A.
“I don’t have a crystal ball. I’m planning based on where I feel like we are, and what are the conversations we’re going to need,” Desai said during a recent “Here Lies Love” rehearsal break, noting that in the number “God Draws Straight” the lyrics talk about nuns and priests from the church leading the resistance, which mirrors the current moment in America.
“The playbook, which is political assassinations, it is censorship, it is martial law, is literally what we’re seeing happen,” Desai said.
Two weeks before opening night, the “Here Lies Love” cast plunged through the musical’s latter half before a lunch break.
They rehearsed in a small room in CTG’s annex building on Temple Street, which Desai said was shut down during last summer’s ICE protests. Ensemble members donned flared heels, Onitsuka Tigers, cloud slides and other shoes that evoke Imelda‘s infamous 3,000-pair collection, intentionally left unmentioned in Byrne’s musical.
“I hope that people that are Asian or Filipino leave with a sense of pride seeing themselves reflected on stage,” Joshua Dela Cruz said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re half or a quarter or an eighth, you’re Filipino. And this is our culture and our history that we carry.”
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
The actors glided across the makeshift stage with panache, sparing no vocal force as they sung through the uptempo track “Please Don’t” and the acoustic ballad “God Draws Straight.”
“You can tell that they want it to be really good,” choreographer William Carlos Angulo said.
Indeed, the show’s leads said they felt a particular loyalty to the L.A. production, which is being performed in the city with the largest Filipino population outside the Philippines, amounting to over 500,000 residents.
Reanne Acasio, who plays Imelda, said that her role is far more delicate than her recent historic turns as each of the Schuyler sisters in Broadway’s “Hamilton.”
“Doing a show that talks about historical events with people who are all long gone by now is a very different experience than [performing for] people who are still traumatized by these events,” Acasio said.
The actor, who made her “Here Lies Love” debut in 2023 with Broadway’s first-ever all-Filipino cast, said that like many Filipino immigrants, her parents never voluntarily spoke about their time under martial law. So when Broadway show attendees told her they’d come with their families, she was amazed.
“The fact that this show was able to open up that door to conversation, to research on their own, was such a pivotal moment,” Acasio said, “not only for representation, but to start to heal some trauma that gets stuffed in the back of the closet.”
Chris Renfro, who plays Ferdinand Marcos, said being a part of the show has enabled conversation about the Marcos regime within their own family.
“I’ve begun to connect these little stories that they would tell me, and now I get to see them with a different color to them because they would — I mean, probably rightfully so — take the bad parts of the story,” Renfro said. “But now we’ve been talking about it very frankly.”
The musical is structured in a similar way, they said, opening with the joviality of a disco or Philippine noontime variety show, then slowly shedding that illusion.
“We keep on moving until you really can’t refute the evidence, and it becomes something that you have to confront,” they said.
It’s what Dela Cruz admires so much about Byrne’s story, which begins in “a very proud, very lighthearted place, almost nostalgic,” and ends in a spirit of confrontation.
“I think that’s the brilliance of David Byrne, where he kind of gets you comfortable with an uncomfortable conversation that you will later need to have after the show,” Dela Cruz said. “That’s why this show is so important now, and I really love how it’s being shaped for today’s audience.”
Desai kept most show revisions close to his chest but did reveal that “American Troglodyte,” a number about the Philippines’ simultaneous glorification and disparagement of American culture, will have several reprises, each meant to solicit a different response from the audience.
By the song’s third appearance, the director said, it’s a “wake-up moment” for everyone.
Over the years, “Here Lies Love” has been criticized as insensitive to the Filipino community in its perceived glamorization of Imelda and minimization of the atrocities committed by the Marcos regime.
In response, show producers in a 2023 statement said, “Democracies all over the world are under threat. The biggest threat to any democracy is disinformation, ‘Here Lies Love’ offers a creative way of re-information—an innovative template on how to stand up to tyrant.”
Joan Almedilla, who plays Aurora Aquino in the Taper production, said her wish is for audiences to feel a collective call-to-action against oppressive leaders.
“In the Philippines, this story is ‘the government versus the people,’ as opposed to now, ‘people versus people versus people versus the government,’” Almedilla said.
As guests leave the theater, the actor added, “I hope people sit there and say, ‘There’s more of us. What are we doing?’”
When I spend time around fellow writers, regardless of their achievements, conversation is much the same as in any other context. When I watch groups of fictional writers in films, they are continually striving to outdo one another, to show off their brilliant intellects. It’s a constant process of trying too hard, and it’s exhausting. To his credit, Dustin Hoffman, who plays established literary genius David in this torrid tale of family conflict, doesn’t come across this way, rising above the clumsy script thanks to his patient approach. The same cannot be said of the other actors, all of whom have proved their talent elsewhere yet seem seduced by the notion that this is how intelligent people behave.
The plot here is fairly simple, and not without potential. David’s son Jacob (Tom Sturridge) is a copywriter and successful creator of jingles, but after his wife Elise (Alison Brie) wins a major award, he starts getting insecure, wanting to prove that he can make it as a proper literary type. The obvious way to do this seems to be to write a biography of David, but David has no interest in engaging with this. He provides a number of reasonable justifications for this. Underlying them is the fact that we all tend to frame ourselves in different ways for different people. What one might be willing to say to the great anonymous public is not necessarily something one might feel able to say to one’s son.
This stalemate is broken by the arrival of John (André Holland, fresh from the similarly awkward – but smarter – The Dutchman), an old friend of Jacob whom David remembers fondly. At Elise’s instigation, a secret deal is made: John will look after the increasing fragile older man during the day and, in the process, extract his stories from him, giving them to Jacob for his book. John agrees to this because he needs the money Jacob offers him, and it seems like a sweet deal. It immediately sets up a power imbalance, however.
Complicating matters further are John’s past as a literary protégé who failed to fulfil his promise; the fact that he was once in a relationship with Elise, whose dissolution she regrets; and the pressure that she’s under to match her great success, from an agent who subscribes to the popular but rather tedious belief that inspiration is most easily found in bad behaviour.
Another way writers in films differ from those in the real world is that for them, critical success comes with money, so they don’t have to write very much. A good deal of this film is spent listening to them whine about how hard it is, as if under the misapprehension that it’s not really a form of work. Sturridge is particularly unfortunate; between this and Jacob’s whining about issues with his parents, he doesn’t get much else to do. Brie has a little more to work with as the film flirts with the idea that we’re caught up in Elise’s imaginary scenarios, but this doesn’t really convince. Holland manages to salvage something, but it’s only Hoffman who is really able to interject some energy into proceedings – ironic given that he spends a lot of his scenes in a haze of cannabis smoke.
It’s not terrible. Writer/director Alex Vlack frames scenes nicely enough and all the technical work is carried out to a good standard. There’s just little reason for viewers to invest. Like its characters, it’s intent on trying to communicate cleverly, but has very little to say.
Reviewed on: 04 Jul 2026
Comedy saved Teruko Nakajima’s life.
In 2016, Nakajima received psychiatric care at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, diagnosed with depression, PTSD and suicidal ideation. Her doctors searched for ways to manage her stress by exposing her to various activities, including video games, serene Icelandic landscapes and an aerial silks performance. The last brought her anxiety down, revealing that the arts were the answer. Her doctor prescribed the arts, comedy specifically, so she went to the Upright Citizens Brigade for class.
She found a calling and a safe space in comedy.
“I didn’t know I was born a comedian,” Nakajima said. “Finally, I really felt I was accepted as a comedian, validated for who I am.”
Nakajima shares her healing journey to the stage in “Made in America,” which just had an encore performance at UCB on Tuesday after its award-winning run in 2022 (it is also available for streaming on UCB’s website through Tuesday). The one-woman show arrives in time for the United States’ 250th anniversary on Saturday, documenting Nakajima’s search for the American dream as a first-generation Japanese American woman. “Made in America” premiered in 2022 at the Hollywood Fringe Festival during Joe Biden’s presidency and following the Jan. 6 United States Capitol attack. In 2026, its musings on identity and belonging pierce through today’s political landscape shaped by Donald Trump’s second presidency.
“I wanted to let people know this is an American story,” she said.
“Made in America” is about Nakajima’s life. It begins in her mother’s womb. She felt so safe there, she yearned to return. Growing up, she experienced an emotionally and physically abusive life at home, recalling her father breaking furniture and her mother’s alcohol-induced belittling comments. But her name, Teruko, translates to a “shining child.” Thus, she proclaims in the show, “I’m a superstar!”
The beauty in “Made in America” is Nakajima’s ability to find the humor in her trauma. When the show transitions to her life in America, she talks about her life as a dominatrix in New York City and her struggles with romance in Los Angeles. Her comedic jabs at the American economy and humorous reflections juxtapose somber moments of stillness in the midst of her struggles. This balance puts her life into perspective, revealing a positive personality beneath a dark saga.
Nakajima performs “Made in America” at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.
(Nick Rasmussen)
“I look very happy-go-lucky and cheerful, but actually, I am a very dark person because I have a dark history,” she said. “I always wanted to leave my story behind. I wanted to leave my mark in this world before I died, so I needed to make something.”
The first class Nakajima took at UCB was John Flynn’s storytelling course. There, she started building pieces of the show without realizing it. As they added up, the idea for a show surfaced. After class one day, she asked Flynn to direct it. Flynn, who has been teaching at UCB in New York and L.A. for about 20 years, agreed.
“She disarms people,” Flynn said. “There’s something about her that is just so unique and so delightful that you won’t forget her.”
Flynn first met her at his storytelling open mic. She walked in with her emotional support dog Titi (also known as Tiny Teruko), wearing her signature red heart-framed glasses, without lenses. Soon, these glasses would make him double over in laughter when she performed and cried, dabbing her eyes with tissue through the frame.
“When you start to learn her story and the experiences she’s had, it is amazing that she is so positive,” he said. “She’s such a sort of undeniable positive energy that she just radiates all the time, which is so compelling and why people are so drawn to her.”
Revived at UCB amid Trump’s second term and the nation’s 250th birthday, Nakajima’s show doubles as a defiant immigrant love letter to America — and a refuge for audiences feeling alone.
(Nick Rasmussen)
Nakajima puts all of herself into the show. Aside from comedy, she has been a cheerleader in Japan, a salsa dancer in New York and a sculptor on the side — she loves sculpting MLB players’ butts; Derek Jeter is her favorite. In the show, she folds these aspects of her life into a single story, dancing from section to section. Comedy is more than just laughs; it’s storytelling.
“I am so good at cheering people up, since I was very little,” she said. “I had no competition with others because I’m the one and only. Nobody looks like me.”
Together, Flynn and Teruko parsed through her life stories to give the show an arc. For Flynn, it’s like carving away at what is already there to create something fun and cohesive, like a sculpture. “What’s fun about directing one-person shows like this is that it’s usually just two people in a room putting something together,” Flynn said.
Bringing the show back this year, the work gets sharper and tighter, but the biggest shift is in its conclusion. Once optimistic about the future of life in America, the show now has a stronger desire to make change. There was a sense of hope in 2022 for women like Nakajima, an immigrant who sought safety in a new country and struggled with abuse from her family and strange men. Today, as Trump’s immigration policies lean on deportation and discrimination, she simply wants to be seen.
“America, thank you for not giving up on me,” Nakajima said toward the end of the show. She is proud to be American, not just because she gets to have the same nationality as her dog Titi, but primarily because of the new life it offered her. America promised happiness. Whether it actually comes is another story, but in this one, the promise itself gave her a sense of purpose.
“After the show, people come to me in person and through messages,” she said. “A lot of people said, ‘I felt like I am not alone.’ That gives me so much hope and unity. I feel safe and like I have something to look forward to because I’m not the only one.”
Flynn realized how much he took for granted while working on the show with Nakajima. “I think, even though these are scary times and things seem to be going in directions that aren’t the best, there are still great people, and there’s something that is still there and is not dying and is still fighting,” Flynn said.
When she began her acting journey, Nakajima thought she’d turn to drama, but there’s something more unguarded in comedy.
Nakajima holding up her dog Titi during a performance of “Made in America.”
(Nick Rasmussen)
“I’m very authentic and invincible through comedy,” she said.
By the end of “Made in America,” Nakajima is no longer trying to find her way back to her mother’s womb. She is confident in her place in the world. She remembers that she is a star. She brings out her dog Titi, who was hidden on stage throughout the entire performance, and shares that UCB gave her a new outlook on life. Comedy breaks away her stresses and allows viewers to be vulnerable with her.
“I always wanted to feel safe,” she said. “I never had that. Finally, I found a safe space, and then I realized that I’m actually important. I’m actually worthy. I’m so happy right now to be able to express myself through comedy because it’s the truth.”
Movie Reviews
1986 Movie Reviews – About Last Night, Big Trouble in Little China, The Great Mouse Detective, Howling II, Psycho III, Under the Cherry Moon | The Nerdy
Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1986 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.
We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.
Yes, we’re insane, but 1986 was that great of a year for film.
The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1986 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.
This time around, it’s July 4, 1986, and we’re off to seeAbout Last Night, Big Trouble in Little China, The Great Mouse Detective, Howling II, Psycho III, and Under the Cherry Moon.
About Last Night
St. Elmo’s Fire was awful. This feels like a make-good for two of the actors.
Danny Martin (Rob Lowe) meets Debbie Sullivan (Demi Moore) and their chemistry is electric and immediate. They waste no time becoming serious, and moving in together, despite neither of them having ever had a serious relationship. They quickly discover it’s not quite as easy as just sharing an apartment like you do with a roommate.
I didn’t love the movie (mainly due to Jim Belushi’s Bernie character), but I did enjoy it far more than I anticipated.Moore and Lowe’s on-screen chemistry really clicked far more than most on-screen couples.
It’s a good character study, and keeps you engaged. Is it essential viewing? That’s up to you.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Big Trouble in Little China
If there was ever a poster child for a movie that found a second life in rentals and on cable, this is it.
Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) is a over-the-road trucker with a lot of thoughts on life and how important reflexes are. While making a delivery in Chinatown, he gets sucked into a situation with an ancient Chinese evil trying to regain its humanity, and all Jack really wants is to get his truck back.
John Carpenter wasn’t quite a household name, but with films such as Halloween, The Thing and Escape From New York to his name, people were taking notice. Teaming with Russell for another outing seemed like it would be another win, but this one proved just a little too odd for mainstream audiences. Once it got into our homes, however, everyone fell in love with it.
As Jack Burton always says, it’s a must-see for any 80s journey.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
The Great Mouse Detective
I had never seen it, and as Disney films go, I would have been fine keeping it that way.
Set in Longon in 1897, a young mouse named Olivia Flaversham witnesses her toymaker father get kidnapped. She seeks out Basil of Baket Street, also known as the Great Mouse Detective. Along with David Q. Dawson, recently returned from serving in the military in Afghanistan, the three of them try to stop Professor Ratigan from replacing the Queen.
It’s just a Sherlock Holmes story, but with mice. I didn’t find anything that compelling about it. It was pretty enough to look at, but the story just left me fairly empty.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Howling II
I… have a lot of thoughts.
Following up on the end of the The Howling, Ben White (Reb Brown) buries his sister Karen White, and quickly learns she was a werewolf. He teams up with werewolf hunter Stedan Crosscoe (Christopher Lee) to take down Stirba (Sybil Danning), the queen of the werewolves who is about to celebrate her 1,000th birthday, and stop the spread of the werewolf curse.
On paper it sounds fine, in execution it is just… horrible. Poorly lit, horrible acting, low-grade effects, and costuming that leaves you more confused than anything else.
Avoid at all costs.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Psycho III
I have to admit, so far these sequels haven’t been horrible.
Following up shortly after the vents of Psycho II, Norman (Anthony Perkins) is still hiding the body of Emma Spool, and having issues again with seeing “Mother.” He hires drifter Duane Duke (Jeff Fahey) to run the motel. He also meets Maureen (Diana Scarwid), a nun on the run after she accidentally kills one of her sisters. With a new woman in his life, Mother has some thoughts on what Norman should be doing.
In general I actually enjoyed this new outing in the franchise, although it feels it missed some opportunities at the end of the story of Norman and Maureen working together. What if Maureen had actually been the one manipulating Norman this time? There was another movie lurking in the background that sadly never gets broached.
What we did end up with, however, was entertaining.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Under the Cherry Moon
This film was unfairly maligned.
Christopher Tracy (Prince) and Tricky (Jerome Benton) as wooing women in France in hopes of getting enough money to head back to Miami one day. When Christopher hears about Mary Sharon (Kristin Scott Thomas) inherting a trust fund of $50 million for her 21st birthday, she becomes his next mark, but little does he know how it will end for him.
Following Purple Rain, Prince could do no wrong in Hollywood and was given a blank check for his next film. Audiences and critics did not warm to this film as it wasn’t Purple Rain 2 and it lived with a bad reputation for years.
I hadn’t seen it in 35 years or more when I watched it for this report, and… I really enjoyed it. It’s over-the-top, but in the right way. Prince was clearly paying homage to the silent movie romance films, and it works for what it is. Is he a great actor? No. Does it work for this film? Yes.
Honestly, this may be one of the most enjoyable films I’ve had in this project in several weeks. It’s worth a reassessment.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
1986 Movie Reviews will continue on July 11, 2026, with Club Paradise.
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