Head Over Heels is a new, raucous musical comedy based on The Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney. It also showcases the songs from the most successful all-female rock band of all time... The Go-Go's!
Take a trip to Arcadia for a colorful, gender-fluid, pronoun-flaunting, pop-rock-infused journey that might just be the most all-inclusive one ever to be taken on the Great White Way. With a delightful book by Jeff Whitty and James Magruder, our fearless and sometimes conniving protagonists sing, dance and hump their way through a tale of scandalous romance, sexual awakenings, drag disguises and an ominous prophecy destined to come true. Sound like fun? It sure is.
Head Over Heels is a bright mix of 17th century costumes (with a modern twist) and 1980s disco lights courtesy of designers Arianne Phillips and Kevin Adams, respectively, all deliciously choreographed by Spencer Liff, who makes big dance numbers out of the musical's score. Go-Go's hits such as “We Got the Beat,” “Get Up and Go,” “Cool Jerk,” “Vacation,” “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “Lust to Love,” and the title song “Head Over Heels” - as well as Belinda Carlisle’s solo hits “Mad About You” and “Heaven is a Place on Earth” - have never been performed so exuberantly!
And hats off to "Ru Paul's Drag Race" star Peppermint, who became the first transgender woman to ever originate a principal role on Broadway. And yes, folks, she has got the beat!
The world premiere of Head Over Heels was staged at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival during the summer of 2016. A pre-Broadway run played the Curran in San Francisco from April 10 through to May 6, 2018, with performances beginning at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway on June 23, 2018, ahead of an official opening on July 26.
(Photos by Joan Marcus)