L-Acoustics L-ISA makes Broadway debut in Here Lies Love

David Byrne’s musical Here Lies Love is now well into its run on Broadway, returning to New York ten years after it was first staged in the city. The show, featuring lyrics by former Talking Heads main man Byrne, who wrote the music with Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook), is based on the life of Imelda Marcos and set in Club Millennium. The nightclub setting, complete with DJ, is made to feel real and intimate for the audience through the use of a L-Acoustics L-ISA immersive audio system playing through more than 220 loudspeakers.

This production of Here Lies Love marks the first use of L-ISA technology for a Broadway show. Through the combination of spatial audio and a drastic rearrangement of the stage and seating in the Broadway Theatre, the audience is brought closer to the action and performers. Scenic designer David Korins turned the proscenium area into a dance floor by taking out the orchestra seating, creating a space where theatre goers can mingle with the cast during the performance.

Audience members who prefer to sit down and watch the story rather than be in the middle of it have the choice of three areas: two 90-feet long rows of elevated gallery seating, which looks on to the left and right of the dance floor; a big mezzanine; and the Club Lounge, which is under the front mezzanine area.

All these parts of the theatre are fully covered with immersive sound, driven by two L-ISA processors. The main dance floor system comprises 14 L-Acoustics A Series arrays, with three hangs of an A15 Focus above two A15 Wide cabinets flown over the two short ends of the rectangular space. Fill-in sound for the runway comes from two central arrays of A10 Wide boxes, with a pair of X8s used when this part of the stage rotates through 90-degrees. The perimeter, where the actors move round the dance floor, is covered by a ring of 16 compact 5XT boxes.

Three additional A Series arrays are arranged over the front mezzanine, with three arrays of seven Kara IIs for the rear mezzanine. A mixture of X12, X8 and X4i provide in-fill for other areas, including the gallery seats. Sub-bass comes from 24 KS21 bins arranged around the auditorium. Power comes from 50 LA4X amplified controllers, which sit on a Milan AVB network that takes signals from the converted MADI output of the DiGiCo Quantum7T front of house console sitting under the DJ booth.

Here Lies Love is adapted from David Byrne’s 2010 concept album of the same name. The show tells the story of Imelda Marcos, First Lady of President of the Phillipines Ferdinand Marcos, from her early days to the collapse of their regime. It was originally staged as an off-Broadway production in 2013, with shows later following in London (2015) and Seattle (2017).

The full Broadway version started its run in July this year and has built on the immersive approach taken by previous versions. “Here Lies Love is a unique show in which the audience blends with the performers,” explains sound designer Cody Spencer. “It can be experienced from the dance floor, from seats around the dance floor, or seated in a traditional setting. We chose L-ISA immersive sound so we could provide the same enveloping immersive experience no matter where the audience is. We actually have six different zones that we are controlling with two L-ISA processors, which we’re running in tandem: one doing the dance floor’s 360-degree sound and another one for the frontal system, which is the voices in the front with surrounds and stuff all around.”

Spencer, who co-designed the show’s sound design with ML Dogg, explains the intention was to convey the excitement of the story and the disco pop songs that drive it. “On Here Lies Love, whether you’re standing on the floor or sitting up in the mezzanine, you’re really feeling like you’re encompassed and are part of the show as opposed to ‘there’s a proscenium here and I’m watching the show that’s down there’. I am so excited for people to experience the sound of this show and am confident this is just the beginning of L-ISA on Broadway.”