Songs from the 80s pop band The Go-Go’s will compose the score for the Broadway-bound musical Head Over Heels. Playing San Francisco’s Curran Theatre in the spring of 2018 prior to its Broadway berth in the 2018-2019 season (theater TBA). Head Over Heels will feature a book conceived by Tony-winner Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) and adapted by James Magruder. Direction will be by Tony-winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) and choreography by Emmy and Drama Desk nominee Spencer Liff (Hedwig and the Angry Inch). Tom Kitt (SpongeBob SquarePants, Next To Normal, American Idiot) will provide musical supervision, as well as orchestrations and arrangements.
“Deliriously funny and sexy, Head Over Heels is a tantalizing odyssey wrought with mistaken identities, jealous lovers, romance, and scandal. This lavishly quick-witted new musical takes us on an extravagant journey where everything (and everyone) is not quite what it seems. What happens next?… Our lips are sealed!” Head Over Heels is based upon The Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney.
The 80’s band The Go-Go’s, famous for such hits as “We Got the Beat,” “Get Up and Go,” “Cool Jerk,” “Vacation,” “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “Lust to Love,” “Head Over Heels”, is made up of Charlotte Caffey, Belinda Carlisle, Gina Schock, Jane Wiedlin, and Kathy Valentin. Head Over Heels will include all the songs mentioned above, as well as hits from Carlisle’s solo career such as “Mad About You” and “Heaven in a Place on Earth.”
Weighing-in on the forthcoming stage musical, the band had this to say, “If you told us 30 years ago that our songs were going to be in a musical, we’d have said ‘Of course they’ll be on Broadway!’ None of us would have really believed it though — what a crazy idea! Yet here we are, with Head Over Heels – a celebration of love in all its forms, joyful, fun and full of heart, driven by the songs that for decades have been making people jump from their seats and dance.”
The creative team for Head Over Heels includes scenic design by Tony Award nominee Julian Crouch (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), lighting design by four-time Tony Award winner Kevin Adams (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Idiot, Spring Awakening), costume design by Academy Award and Tony Award nominee Arianne Phillips (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), and sound design by Tony Award nominee Kai Harada (Follies).
Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals and maintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com