DAVID BYRNE’S HERE LIES LOVE CAST RECORDING

DAVID BYRNE’S HERE LIES LOVE CAST RECORDING TO BE RELEASED MAY 6 ON NONESUCH RECORDS 

ALBUM FEATURES ACCLAIMED PERFORMERS FROM PUBLIC THEATER’S PRODUCTION, WHICH RETURNED TO STAGE ON APRIL 14

 

 

“insidiously infective songs”—New York Times

“From leads to ensemble, the cast is topnotch.”—New York Daily News

Nonesuch Records will release the cast recording of David Byrne’s Here Lies Love, on May 6. The recording features music by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim as performed by the original 2013 Public Theater cast of the Here Lies Love musical starring Ruthie Ann Milesand Jose Llana as Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos. Here Lies Love will be released digitally and as a two CD set and is available for pre-order at nonesuch.com with an instant download of the track “Child of the Philippines.”

The physical copy of the recording includes a 52-page full color book with lyrics, credits, an introduction by Public Theater director Oskar Eustis and two essays about the creation of the piece by Byrne.

Here Lies Love premiered at New York’s Public Theater in April of last year and was extended four times. It won an Obie Award for music and lyrics; an Outer Critics Circle Award; Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Music, Lighting Design, and Projection Design; and two Theatre World Awards. The musical and its principal cast returned this spring with performances that began on April 14; opening night is set for May 1. The Public’s production was hailed by theNew York Observer as “the must-see event of the season” and by Vogue as “a life-giving, roof-raising, booty-shaking blast of joy.”

Marcos’s love for disco and club music served as the inspiration for the musical, telling the story of Filipina First Lady Imelda Marcos, retracing her meteoric rise to power and subsequent descent into infamy and disgrace at the end of the People Power Revolution.

Here Lies Love, which draws its name from Imelda’s requested tombstone epitaph, was originally released in 2010 as an album with multiple singers performing the lead roles, including Santigold, Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine), Sia, Steve Earle, St. Vincent, Natalie Merchant, Tori Amos, Sharon Jones, Nicole Atkins, and many others.

The cast recording of Here Lies Love features seven new songs written specifically for the musical including “Child of the Philippines,” “The Fabulous One,” based on Ninoy Aquino’s famous speech “A Pantheon for Imelda,” and “God Draws Straight,” based on the book People Power: An Eyewitness History. Of the new songs written for the musical, Byrne says “I was thrilled with the result—I’d been gently nudged by my collaborators to write something that I’d never tried before.”

Byrne collaborated with director Alex Timbers (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) to bring the music to the stage. Ruthie Ann Miles’ starring performance was praised as “striking” by New York magazine, “magnetic, sexy and poignant” by the New York Post, and “vivid and haunting” by the New York Daily News. Entertainment Weekly declares “not only does [Miles] have a lovely, dynamic set of pipes, but she also infuses the first lady with just the right amount of strength and sensitivity.” Miles earned a Theatre World Award for her performance. The cast recording of Here Lies Love also features Renee Albulario, Melody Butiu, Natalie Cortez, Debralee Daco, Joshua Dela Cruz, Kelvin Moon Loh, Jeigh Madjus, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Conrad Ricamora, Trevor Salter, and Janelle Velasquez.

Here Lies Love Track Listing:

DISC 1

1: American Troglodyte—Ensemble

2: Here Lies Love—Ruthie Ann Miles & Melody Butiu

3: Child of the Philippines—Conrad Ricamora & Ruthie Ann Miles

4: Opposite Attraction—Conrad Ricamora & Ruthie Ann Miles

5: The Rose of Tacloban—Ruthie Ann Miles

6: A Perfect Hand—Jose Llana

7: Eleven Days—Ruthie Ann Miles

8: When She Passed By—Melody Butiu

9: Sugartime Baby—Ruthie Ann Miles, Jose Llana & Jeigh Madjus

10: Walk Like a Woman—Ruthie Ann Miles

11: Don’t You Agree? / Pretty Face—Ruthie Ann Miles, Jose Llana & Maria-Christina Oliveras

12: Dancing Together—Ruthie Ann Miles & Maria-Christina Oliveras

13: The Fabulous One—Conrad Ricamora

14: Men Will Do Anything—Maria-Christina Oliveras

 

DISC 2

1: Star and Slave—Ruthie Ann Miles

2: Poor Me—Ruthie Ann Miles & Jose Llana

3: Please Don’t—Ruthie Ann Miles

4: Solano Avenue—Ruthie Ann Miles & Melody Butiu

5: Riots and Bombs

6: Order 1081—Renee Albulario, Melody Butiu, Natalie Cortez & Maria-Christina Oliveras

7: Seven Years—Ruthie Ann Miles & Conrad Ricamora

8: Gate 37—Conrad Ricamora

9: Just Ask the Flowers—Natalie Cortez

10: Why Don’t You Love Me?—Ruthie Ann Miles

11: God Draws Straight—Kelvin Moon Loh

12: Here Lies Love (Curtain Call)—Ensemble