Famed Filipino labor leader gets the musical treatment in SF

Billy Bustamante served as assistant director on last year’s “Here Lies Love,” the first time an all-Filipino cast occupied a Broadway theater.

But despite the historic nature of the production (it closed in November after a five-month run) and what it meant for Filipino artists and audiences alike, Bustamante said his latest project, “Larry the Musical: An American Journey,” is unlike anything he’s experienced in the more than 20 years as a professional director, performer and choreographer.

“Everyone creating, leading and producing the piece is Filipino American, so there is this really unique synergy of mission unlike any other room I’ve been a part of,” Bustamante said. “The amazing byproduct of a project like this is this newfound sense of belonging in this room and within this art form.”

The passion project Bustamante and others are engaged with is “Larry the Musical: An American Journey,” now in previews at Brava Theater in San Francisco, telling the story of famed Filipino labor leader Larry Itliong. The show is based on the children’s book “Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong,” written by the late Filipino historian Dawn Mabalon and Brava artist-in-residence Gayle Romasanta, who is also executive producer and the show’s book writer.

Cesar Chávez’s name carries mighty weight through the history of United States labor, with his fight for such farmworkers’ rights as safe working conditions, living wages and protections from the dangers of pesticides. For those efforts, Chávez, who died in 1993 at age 66, has been remembered with a national holiday, a feature film and countless scholarships chronicling his influence.

Itliong is not as well-known as Chávez, yet his influence in the fledgling days of the United Farm Workers, a combined effort to merge their respective unions, was just as impactful. It was Itliong who convinced Chávez that joining forces in 1965 for the Delano Grape Strike was essential, despite Chávez’s reservations due to the young nature of his own union. That boycott succeeded after five years with a favorable contract for the farmworkers.

Despite the boycott’s success, which inspired other boycotts in subsequent years, Itliong resigned from the United Farm Workers in 1971 due to disagreements about the organizations’ direction.

Music of resistance, protest and joy has a rich history through boycotts. The music of “Larry” spans decades, an amalgamation of many styles composed by Bryan Pangilinan and Sean Kana. The team is hoping the production will increase awareness and knowledge about Itliong in popular culture.

“This is our love letter to the Filipino community, and orchestrating this show has been really fun,” said Kana, whose mother is Filipino. “The process has been challenging, but it’s been an awesome challenge.”

In many ways that challenge rests with Romasanta, who has deep ties to Stockton, where Itliong settled in the 1940s. The roots of the story are firmly in California, home to more than 1.2 Filipinos, with more than 300,000 concentrated in the Bay Area. Romasanta and Kevin Camia’s libretto certainly reflects that relationship between Filipinos and the Golden State.

“If you’re on the West Coast, this story hits you directly, and you may not even know that within your history, all roads lead to Stockton, all roads lead to Delano,” Romasanta said. “Many of our cast members had no idea until they were in ‘Larry,’ and I think what hits home specifically here is that everyone is connected to this history.”

Bustamante is floored by that community connection, which makes the project even more special.

“It’s not like we have a big, fancy theater company paying the bills for this show,” Bustamante said. “Our writers are doing this for the support of the community that we are performing for. In that way, it feels empowering.”

There is still a visceral rawness to telling this story without the physical presence of its most critical inspiration. Mabalon passed unexpectedly in 2018 from an asthma attack just shy of her 46th birthday. Her research and standing as a revered academic chronicling the Filipino American experience, earning her PhD from Stanford, serves as the spiritual heartbeat of the musical, with a notable character named “Dawn” in the show.

“There is no Larry without Dawn for me,” said Romasanta, who noted Mabalon passed the day their book was completed. “You think about Chinese, European or Chicano history, there have been so many historians, but we’ve had one, and that’s a problem. I think that’s also how she’s very much a presence in the show because it’s a call to action for our people. She cannot be the last.”

David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics Association and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (‘22-‘23); @davidjchavez.

‘LARRY THE MUSICAL: AN AMERICAN JOURNEY’

Book by Kevin Camia and Gayle Romasanta, adapted from the book “The Life of Larry Itliong” by Dr. Dawn Mabalon and Romasanta; music by Bryan Pangilinan and Sean Kana

When: In previews through March 22; main run is March 23-April 14

Where: Brava Theater, 2781 24th St., San Francisco

Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes with an intermission

Tickets: $25-$150; larrythemusical.com