Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy, and Evan Zimmerman
Immersive theater should feel participatory and intriguing, but right from the beginning Here Lies Love (Broadway Theatre, booking to Sept 3) feels hectoring—before ultimately becoming a big, baffling Broadway mess.
If you buy tickets to stand amid the action on the ground floor, you are told to be aware of the revolving stage, and to follow the instruction of stagehands who hold colored batons. If you are seated upstairs, you are told when to get up and dance, and what to say.
It is important to note that David Korins’ refitted Broadway Theatre looks stunning; it has been transformed into a discotheque with DJ (Moses Villarama)—and a theater valiantly kind of hanging on in there—with stunning lighting design by Justin Townsend and projections running down its flanks by Peter Nigrini.