GARTLAND PRODUCTIONS AND CHRIS MAGUIRE ANNOUNCE THE EUROPEAN PREMIÈRE OF
HEAD OVER HEELS
Gartland Productions and Chris Maguire today announce the European première of Head Over Heels at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester. Originally written and conceived by Jeff Whitty, it is adapted by James Magruder, and based on The Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney, with songs from The Go-Go’s. Directed and choreographed by Tom Jackson Greaves, Head Over Heels is a bold musical comedy set to the music of the iconic 1980’s all-female rock band The Go-Go’s. The production opens on 31 January 2023,with previews from 26 January, running until 4 March.
Director, Tom Jackson Greaves said today: “Head Over Heels has been on my radar since its inception. Its colour, pride and joy combined with the music of The Go-Go’s is a delicious recipe. There are very few new musicals that excite me as much – from its portrayal of queer experiences to its comment on the patriarchy, with its mounds of silliness – the piece is a breath of fresh air within the art form. It’s a rebellion against the confines of history. It’s a celebration of uniqueness. It’s the perfect antidote (and in some ways challenge) to the world’s darkness in 2022 and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with Manchester.”
Gartland Productions and Chris Maguire co-present
HEAD OVER HEELS
Songs by The Go-Go’s
Based on ‘The Arcadia’ by Sir Philip Sidney
Conceived and Original Book by Jeff Whitty
Adapted by James Magruder
26 January – 4 March
Director and Choreographer: Tom Jackson Greaves; Musical Director: Arelene McNaught;
Casting Director: Lucy Casson; Set and Costume: Sophia Pardon
This laugh-out-loud love story is set to the music of the iconic 1980’s all-female rock band The Go-Go’s, including the hit songs, We Got the Beat, Our Lips Are Sealed, Vacation, Belinda Carlisle’sHeaven is a Place on Earth, and Mad About You.
A hilarious, exuberant celebration of love, Head Over Heels follows the escapades of a royal family on an outrageous journey to save their beloved kingdom from extinction—only to discover the key to their realm’s survival lies within each of their own hearts.
Head Over Heels is presented through special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, 7 Penn Plaza, Suite 904, New York, NY 10001, www.broadwaylicensing.com.
Tom Jackson Greaves is a theatre maker based in the UK, specialising in creating cross-art-form, collaborative work with movement at its heart. Greaves is an Associate Artist at The Watermill Theatre, and he has won the 2012 New Adventures Choreographer Award. As a director his credits include Whistle Down the Wind and The Jungle Book (The Watermill Theatre), Brother (Southwark Playhouse), Extraordinary Women, Lucky Stiff (GSA), High Fidelity (Turbine Theatre) and Run For Your Life (Kneehigh). His credits as choreographer/movement director include The Book Thief (Bolton Octagon), The Da Vinci Code, Zog and The Flying Doctors, Priscilla Queen of the Desert (UK tours), Rent (Hope Mill Theatre), Amélie (The Other Palace), King John (RSC), , Miracle on 34th Street, Paint Your Wagon, Fiddler on the Roof (Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse), The Audience, Billionaire Boy (Nuffield Southampton), Macbeth, Sweet Charity, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, The Borrowers, Romeo and Juliet (The Watermill Theatre), Spring Awakening (Hope Mill Manchester), Teddy (The Vaults/UK tour), Boudica (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Life (Southwark Playhouse), Peter and the Starcatcher (Royal and Derngate), The Glass Menagerie (Headlong) and The Crocodile (MIF)
The Go-Go’s are band members Charlotte Caffey, Belinda Carlisle, Gina Schock, Kathy Valentine and Jane Wiedlin and they will forever have the beat! These female pioneers formed The Go-Go’s in 1978 and were an integral part of the LA punk scene. The Go-Go’s made history as the first, and to date only, all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to ever top the Billboard charts. Their 1981 debut album, Beauty and the Beat, was #1 on the charts for six consecutive weeks and it remains one of the most successful debut albums of all time. Other albums include Vacation (1982), Talk Show (1984) and God Bless The Go Go’s (2001). With a 1982 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a 2021 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and a place in history that no other band can claim, it is assured that the Go-Go’s will keep going with a classic catalog of songs that transcends time, trends and genres.
Jeffrey Whitty is an award-winning screenwriter, playwright, poet and performer. Jefferey Whitty is the author of the musical Avenue Q (Tony Award) which ran for sixteen years commercially in New York, six years on London’s West End, and continues to be produced all over the world in dozens of languages. Other musicals include his original story for Bring It On with a score by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Amanda Green (Broadway, Best Musical Tony nomination), and an adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City with music by Scissor Sisters (best Book, Bay Area Critics Circle Award).
James Magruder made his Broadway debut with the book for Triumph of Love. His adaptations of Marivaux, Molière, Lesage, Labiche, Gozzi, Hofmannsthal, Dickens and Giraudoux have been staged across the country in Germany and Japan, and his dissertation, Three French Comedies, was named an “Outstanding Literary Translation of the Year” in 1997. Also a fiction writer, he has published Sugarless, a Lambda Literary Award Finalist; Let Me See It, a story collection; Love Slaves of Helen Hadley Hall; and the just-released Vamp Until Ready. He teaches dramaturgy atSwarthmore College and French drama at the Yale School of Drama.
Listings
Hope Mill Theatre
Hope Mill Theatre, 113 Pollard Street, Manchester, M4 7JA
Box Office: 0161 275 9141 (Tuesday to Friday 12:00pm-6:30pm)
Performances:
Tuesday – Sunday at 7:30pm
Matinees 2:30pm on Wednesday & Saturday and 5:00pm Sunday