TOP: A scene from the Broadway production of “Head Over Heels.” Photo by Joan Marcus.
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HEAD OVER HEELS, the musical comedy mash-up that finished its Broadway run Jan. 6, comes to Actor’s Express in July and August.
The Color Purple, the Express’ 2018 summer musical, regularly filled the 145-seat theater and won six Suzi Bass awards, including best musical.
Head Over Heels takes its score from the catalog of the ’80s’ female punk-pop band the Go-Go’s. The New York Times described it as “jukebox musical meets Elizabethan romance.”
The plot comes from “The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia,” or “Arcadia,” a 16th-century prose poem. It follows members of Arcadia’s royal family on a madcap journey to save their kingdom and follow their hearts. The score features “We Got the Beat,” “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “Vacation” from the Go-Go’s and Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” and “Mad About You.”
The Broadway staging featured a cast of 35 and made history as the first show to feature a role originated by a transgender woman (Peppermint from “RuPaul’s Drag Race”). The Actor’s Express run, one of the first post-Broadway stagings of the show, will continue the tradition of inclusive casting. Artistic director Freddie Ashley directs.
The show previews at 8 p.m. July 17-19, opens at 8 p.m. July 20 and runs through Aug. 25, with performances at 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets start at $35 and are subject to change based on demand. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.607.7469.
Head Over Heels was conceived by Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q, Bring It On) and adapted by James Magruder. It had its world premiere in June 2015 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and played a pre-Broadway engagement in spring 2018 at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre. The Broadway run began in July 2018 and lasted about six months.
