The Broadway production of Here Lies Love — the David Byrne and Fatboy Slim musical about Imelda Marcos based on the 2010 concept album of the same name — will close later this month, with its final performance scheduled for Sunday, November 26. As Deadline reports, when Here Lies Love closes it will have done 33 preview shows and 149 performances at the Broadway Theatre, which was extensively renovated to accomodate its unique stage setup.

The stage production of Here Lies Love has been around for a while now. It first premiered Off-Broadway in 2013, had its London debut in 2015, and there was a Seattle production in 2017. The Broadway production began in previews on June 17, 2023 before officially opening on July 20. But the Broadway iteration of Here Lies Love had hit some speed bumps. In addition to the aforementioned expensive renovations, it was the subject of an official complaint by a Broadway musicians union after producers planned to use pre-recorded music for the show in place of a live band; an agreement was later reached to utilize 12 musicians for the show.

As Deadline notes, the show could not attract a sustained level of interest to offset the cost of production. Per a report from The Washington Post last month, it cost about $700,000 a week to mount the production; box office sales typically stayed between $500,000 and $620,000. Deadline reported that last week, ending November 5, the show grossed $768,244, filling 79% of its available seats.

The producers of the show issued a statement reflecting on some of the struggles:

When we started this journey to bring this bold and original work to Broadway, we asked ourselves: Can anyone produce on Broadway in a new way? Is there a new path forward? What does the template look like? Will audiences want something radically new? Who will those audiences be?

We have learned a great deal about the answers to those questions. Yes, new ways can work. Artistic excellence can be achieved. But the reality is, succeeding on Broadway means not only producing excellent work with artistic merit––it also means creating the audience for it. And how much time it takes to find and grow new audiences is out of sync with the tight timeframes for audience-building and awareness.

Every aspect of our production brought new life and fresh ideas to Broadway, from the innovative music of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, the beautiful choreography of Annie-B Parson, the masterful staging by our visionary director Alex Timbers, and the jaw-dropping set, lighting, sound, and projection designs by David Korins, Justin Townsend, M.L. Dogg, Cody Spencer and Peter Nigrini, and among the most dazzling collection of costumes ever seen on Broadway created by Clint Ramos.
As the first-ever fully binational producing team, we are deeply proud and honored to have brought this pioneering theatrical event to Broadway. The first all-Filipino acting company on Broadway received universal critical acclaim, celebrated by thousands of people from diverse backgrounds, including record numbers who experienced going to a Broadway show for the first time.

As an artistic, cultural, and commercial enterprise, we believe that Here Lies Love had to be presented on Broadway. We hope anyone who hasn’t seen the production will be able to get to the show before November 26.