Reviews Are In: ‘Likes’ and ‘hearts’ for ‘Here Lies Love’

By WALTER ANG
July 24, 2023 | USA.Inquirer.net 

NEW YORK — Critics have hit the "like" and "heart" buttons for "Here Lies Love," the Broadway disco pop musical about the life of Imelda Marcos leading up to the People Power Revolution. 

Arielle Jacobs (center) in Broadway disco pop musical "Here Lies Love."
Photo by Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy, Evan Zimmerman

The musical has finally officially opened at the Broadway Theatre after several preview performances. Direction is by Alex Timbers (Tony Award for "Moulin Rouge!").

"Here Lies Love" involves Tony Award-winners Clint Ramos and Lea Salonga. Ramos designed the costumes and Lea Salonga is performing as Ninoy Aquino's mother for a limited number of weeks. In addition, Ramos is a lead producer and Salonga is part of the producing team.

The show touts the "first all-Filipino cast to perform on Broadway." TV star Conrad Ricamora (ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder," Hulu's "Fire Island") plays Ninoy Aquino with Arielle Jacobs as Imelda, Jose Llana as Ferdinand and Melody Butiu as Imelda's caretaker Estrella Cumpas. Jaygee Macapugay is the alternate for Imelda.

Splendid  

New York Times praised the "tireless and inspired all-Filipino cast" with Arielle Jacobs delivering the catchy songs well.

Washington Post said the show is "kinetically crowd-pleasing," complimented the "splendid ensemble" and highlighted Jacobs' "loads of charisma."

Variety extolled the show as an "extreme sensory feat, unlike any attempted before on Broadway" and complimented Conrad Ricamora's "charm offensive" and Jose Llana's "simmer and swagger."

Vulture.com, the online counterpart of New York Magazine, commended how the show gives the audience "a great, unsettling time." It highlighted Melody Butiu as "especially poignant, with a powerful voice to match."

Time Out New York gave the show 4 out of 5 stars, noting that the "groundbreaking, floor-shaking" show's strategy "succeeds overall" and that its staging is "sensational" and "flashy" with an "energetic ensemble, perfectly costumed."

Costume, set, music

Across the board, critics lauded Clint Ramos' costume design. "Show-stopping" (Vulture), "expressive" (Washington Post), "move beautifully" (New York Times).

Critics also marveled at the show's set design by David Korins ("Hamilton," "Dear Evan Hansen," "Beetlejuice"). Seats from the theater's orchestra section have been removed to transform the venue into a dance club environment for audiences to stand and move with the actors. (Side seats, mezzanine and balcony seat are available.)

"Dazzling" (Washington Post), "astonishing architectural transformation" (New York Times), "revolutionized, radicalized, gleaming" (Time Out New York).

While the show's lyrics are based on actual speeches or statements by the real-life figures, its music is by Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award winner David Byrne (of Talking Heads renown) and Grammy Award winner Fatboy Slim. Fil-Am J. Oconer Navarro is the show's music director.

Critics described the tunes as having "seductive beats" (Variety) and "juicy get-on-your-feet hooks" (Vulture). They are "infernally catchy" (New York Times), "thumping . gets you into the groove" (Time Out New York).

TikTok influencers

TikTok theater influencers had been invited to watch previews of the show and have also posted their reactions.

Kate Reinking (@theatreislife) personally recommends reading the historical information materials in the lobby for audience members who are not familiar with Philippine history.

She also encourages joining in on the audience participation portions of the show. "If by the end, you [feel] `should I have been going along with that?' That is kind of that point," she explains. "It definitely does not sugarcoat [the history]. I think the show is really well done."

Ben Lebofsky (@its.raining.ben) says, "This show is designed to be an experience. It forces the audience to be complicit in the story, [which] plays into a lot of the themes of the show. They do a good job of blending the concept [of immersive staging] and the subject matter."

While he feels that the show could have gone deeper, "it never asks you to sympathize with Imelda. It's a super fun and unique theatrical experience and we just don't get these types of shows on Broadway very often."

Visit herelieslovebroadway.com.

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https://usa.inquirer.net/133745/reviews-are-in-likes-and-hearts-for-here-lies-love

Heroism, recipes and family in new culinary memoir

By WALTER ANG
July 19, 2023 | USA.Inquirer.net 

NEW YORK — In her previous cookbooks, Filipino America chef Elizabeth Besa-Quirino has given readers morsels of her mother's culinary influences. In her latest book Every Ounce of Courage: A Daughter's Reflections on Her Mother's Bravery, Quirino provides a full course on the woman who raised her.

Elizabeth Besa Quirino (front) with her mother Lourdes "Lulu" Reyes Besa.

In what she describes as a historical and culinary memoir, Quirino recounts "stories of heroism" about Lourdes "Lulu" Reyes Besa. From a childhood with tragedy to life as a young socialite in the heyday of 1930s Manila, Besa eventually is thrust into aid work during World War II.

"Lulu embarked unflinchingly on dangerous missions to bring aid and comfort that meant the difference between life and death to countless Filipino and American prisoners of war, at great peril to her own life," says Quirino.

After the war, Besa received two Medals of Freedom from President Harry Truman. "Becoming the first Filipino woman and civilian to be so honored for her valiant efforts."

Saved  

Two decades ago, Quirino received a phone call from a stranger. "He told me, `You don't know me, but your mother saved my life.'

"It was an American war veteran. He contacted me by phone to tell me he had been searching for my mother for over 50 years since the war ended. There was no internet and no social media during all those years, so he was never able to find my mother.

"As a young man living in the Midwest in the 1940s, he had enlisted with the American Army Air Forces and was assigned to the Philippines. Unfortunately, he was one of the thousands captured in 1942. As a prisoner, he got very sick with malaria and other illnesses."

Quirino details in the book how Besa's connections allowed her to enter the prison camps as she clandestinely brought in prohibited medicines.

"That phone call changed my life. I knew very little about my mother's life during World War II. She never talked about it. He urged me to start writing my mother's story."

Recipes

Quirino's previous titles include How to Cook Philippine Desserts, Cakes and Snacks: Filipino Cookbook Recipes of Asian in America and My Mother's Philippine Recipes : Filipino Cookbook Recipes from Asian in America.

Responding to the Instant Pot craze a few years ago, she released Instant Filipino Recipes: My Mother's Traditional Philippine Food In a Multi-Cooker Pot.

To write about her own mother's life, Quirino's years-long research included old letters and photographs. She also looked into news clippings, magazine articles and history books. "The books I read brought me back to different eras. The more I read, the more historical information I found about my family."

What she anchors her book on is her use of generational family recipes. "The chapters begin with me cooking a different dish from my mother's time. Each recipe brought me back in time to the stories she used to tell me about the war, about my grandparents and great grandparents.

"There are 24 recipes in the book. In the process of my historical and culinary research, I went back to the time my mother was born, to the era of my grandparents at the turn of the 20th century."

Some of the recipes Quirino features in the book include Mom's Shrimp Toast, ensaymadas, pancit molo soup, beef morcon, tibok-tibok and ginataang bilo-bilo. "Food plays a large part in my family."

"In my mother's story, I discovered a complex life full of joy, sorrow, selflessness and survival. I learned precious lessons about how the timeless bonds of family, the steadfast strength of faith and the power of an indomitable will can provide solace and sense in a world of uncertainty."

Visit TheQuirinoKitchen.com.

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https://usa.inquirer.net/133508/heroism-recipes-and-family-in-new-culinary-memoir

Bounty hunter chases Filipino immigrants in thriller novel 'Multo'

By WALTER ANG
July 14, 2023 | USA.Inquirer.net 

SAN FRANCISCO — Filipino American author Cindy Fazzi is releasing her new thriller Multo, featuring Fil-Am bounty hunter Domingo, who trails undocumented immigrants while writing an advice book for those aspiring to live in the US.

Cindy Fazzi

Domingo's latest job is to seek out biracial Filipino woman Monica Reed, the only fugitive who has ever escaped him and the only one he's ever released against orders. The hunt uncovers a dangerous truth that Reed is determined to publicize even though it puts her life in danger.

The book has been decades in the making with Fazzi's own experiences as an immigrant inspiring the book's milieu. "I first wrote the manuscript that became Multo back in 1995 when I was a green card holder waiting for my US citizenship," says Fazzi.

Interest and inspiration

She had arrived a few years prior to take up graduate studies in journalism at Ohio State University after working as a reporter in Manila and Taipei.

She was then accepted in an internship program with the Associated Press and was offered a full-time job at its conclusion. "I started working in the Columbus Bureau [in Ohio] one month after I received my master's degree. I became a naturalized US citizen in 2000."

"I became interested in fiction writing in graduate school. I actually had the time and motivation to read, write, and discuss books with friends. It was a luxury I never had while working as a reporter.

"The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan was one of the first books I read when I arrived in the US. She inspired me to write fiction, not only because her book is about Asian Americans but because it was so successful. She was proof that there's an audience for Asian American writing."

Attuned

While developing the manuscript, Fazzi had first created the Monica Reed character. "I was very attuned to immigration problems," she says. After reading a New York Times article about a bounty hunter who specialized in deporting undocumented immigrants, she was inspired to create the Domingo character.

"It took me two years to write the first version of the book, which was universally rejected by literary agents who considered it `uncommercial.'"

"I set it aside and wrote other novels. Multo sat in my computer for years." It refused to disappear. "I rewrote it in 2008 and then again in 2017."

Debut thriller

In the intervening years, her articles have appeared in Electric Literature, Catapult, Forbes, and Writer's Digest. Her short stories have appeared in Tough, Snake Nation Review and Copperfield Review.

Fazzi worked on two other books. She wrote romance novel In His Corner under the pen name Vina Arno in 2015, published by Lyrical Press. Next came historical novel My MacArthur in 2018, published by Sand Hill Review Press.

When it comes to writing, Fazzi relies on a routine. "It's really important that I start my day early, at 5 a.m. And that I start it with about 10 or 15 minutes of meditation.

"As a former reporter, I can write anywhere, anytime, but it won't necessarily be optimal. I write best at home where I'm surrounded by familiar things.

"A UC Davis mug that my daughter gave me, for coffee while I'm writing. A `lucky' bamboo plant that's five years old. A little figurine of a laughing Buddha, which Filipinos consider lucky. A small bowl of quartz stones that I've received from friends and family over the years."

Fortune favors the persistent. "Multo was acquired by Agora Books last year, 27 years after it was conceived. It's my third published novel but my debut thriller," she says. Multo will be available starting September 2023.

For book signings and other author-related events, visit cindyfazzi.com.

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https://usa.inquirer.net/133206/bounty-hunter-chases-filipino-immigrants-in-thriller-novel-multo