Probably the first thing you need to know about “Here Lies Love,” the musical conceived by David Byrne and running at the Public Theater through May 19, is that although it is about Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines, her famous collection of shoes is neither mentioned nor shown.

That said, shoes are something audience members should consider: the Public’s LuEsther Hall has been transformed into an ’80s-style disco, and the audience is meant to stand, mill around or, if the spirit moves, dance through the entire 85-minute show. (There are a few seats for those who cannot.)

For Mr. Byrne, disco — both the form and the atmosphere it evokes — is a more vivid symbol of Mrs. Marcos than footwear; her infatuation with that music drew him to her as a potential subject. Having read “The Emperor,” Ryszard Kapuscinski’s biography of Haile Selassie, he became fascinated with autocrats who lived in a kind of surreal, theatrical bubble they create for themselves.

“I read that Imelda Marcos loved going to discos and that she had a mirror ball in her New York apartment and turned the roof of the palace in Manila into a disco,” Mr. Byrne said. “Here’s a kind of music that’s hedonistic and transcendent, that transports you to another world, and to me that captures some of what a powerful person is feeling. So it seemed like a natural soundtrack to this particular megalomaniac’s story.”