‘Imelda’: more soles than soul

“Imelda,” the world premiere musical at East West Players, is one of those committee-designed endeavors that launches off into so many directions that it goes hopelessly astray. Although handsomely produced and competently directed by East West’s producing artistic director, Tim Dang, it is otherwise misbegotten, blurring the line between camp and bathos until we don’t know whether to laugh, cry or simply yawn.

Librettist Sachi Oyama, composer Nathan Wang and lyricist Aaron Coleman never manage to address the central problem: how to transform Imelda Marcos, the profligate first lady of the Philippines, into a gripping dramatic protagonist, a la Eva Peron. Although there are obvious parallels between Imelda and Eva, both flamboyant and epic figures, the differences are vast. A paradox wrapped in a mystery, Eva was perfect fodder for a musical. But Imelda’s very blatancy proves a difficulty. After all, how do you dramatize a worldwide symbol of tasteless consumerism?

For Imelda, there was no business like shoe business. When 3,000 pairs were found in the presidential palace after Imelda and Ferdinand had fled the country, Imelda became an international laughingstock. (The real Imelda has since opened a “shoe museum” in her native country, demonstrating her sheer indomitability -- or is that crassness?)

Of course, any bio has to address the footwear at some point. But shoes loom unfortunately large throughout the show, starting with the comedic opening number “3,000 Pairs of Shoes,” which is reprised several times. Certainly, Imelda’s shoes are iconic. But as the play progresses, the shoes rub raw, never taking on the profound symbolic significance they are obviously meant to.

Most problematic, the creators never settle on a consistent tone or cohesive theme. A case in point: “Imelda” opens with a baffling folkloric prologue that mingles a Filipino creation myth with the epic battle between Magellan and legendary warrior Lapu Lapu. The sequence has been beautifully choreographed by Reggie Lee, but what purpose does it serve in this particular play?

From that mystical but misplaced opener, the show makes a beeline into camp. When we first meet Imelda (Liza Del Mundo), she is towering over the stage floor in what appears to be a two-story ball gown -- courtesy of costume designer Ivy Chou, whose wonderful period ensembles are a joy to behold. It’s a very funny visual of Monty Pythonesque proportions. But as a harbinger, it is simply confusing.

That broadly comical tone persists through Imelda’s early days as a beauty contestant and her whirlwind wooing by up-and-coming politician Ferdinand Marcos (Giovanni Ortega), a domineering Pygmalion who sets out to transform Imelda into an exemplar of a political wife. A sort of Ricky Ricardo to Imelda’s adorably bumbling Lucy, Marcos has his work cut out for him.

When more serious matters intervene -- the couple’s pillaging of the national treasury, Marcos’ institution of martial law and the assassination of visionary reformer Benigno Aquino (Antoine Reynaldo Diel, effectively impassioned here) -- the mood becomes necessarily grave but shifts back to belabored hilarity at the drop of a Prada.

Del Mundo transforms from wide-eyed naif to icy power broker to grieving widow without hesitation -- or convincing transitions. Spirited and appealing, she makes the most of her scattershot character, but she is the victim of inconsistent material. Ortega renders a convincing Marcos in the most sustained performance, but he is forced into character vacillations.

Sadly, although crisply paced and eye-poppingly glitzy, this seriocomic quasi-spoof has a thematic vacuum at its center.

*

‘Imelda’

Where: David Henry Hwang Theater, 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays-

Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays-

Sundays. (No matinee May 14)

Ends: June 19

Price: $33 to $38

Contact: (213) 625-7000

Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes