The “Head Over Heels” Cast Invites You to Their Party

Whenever I was at a party back in the early 1980s and a song by The Go-Go’s came on, everybody was dancing. Whether they were full-on dancing or just unable to resist the beat, the band’s ebullient music made it impossible to stand still. It wasn’t a party until you heard songs like We Got the Beat, Our Lips are Sealed and Vacation.

In a bold move destined to say that the past nearly two years of challenges need to make way for some fun, the Pasadena Playhouse is presenting a radically re-thought version of the Broadway musical Head Over Heels which uses The Go-Go’s music. Co-directors/co-choreographers Jenny Koons and Sam Pinkleton have created a production that’s meant to be a party celebrating each and every one of us.

That spirit of having fun was fully on display when I was invited to attend a preview of the work-in-progress. Three songs were performed out of costume and unamplified. Then it was time to talk to the cast: Alaska 5000 (best known from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 5 and the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars season 2); Yurel Echazarreta (a member of the Broadway cast of Head Over Heels); recording and drag artist Freddie; Lea DeLaria (jazz singer and star of Orange Is the New Black); Tiffany Mann (Be More Chill and Waitress on Broadway); George Salazar (Pasadena Playhouse’s Little Shop of Horrors); Emily Skeggs (Fun Home on Broadway) and Shanice Williams (The Wiz on NBC).

What follows are highlights from my conversations with the cast who made it clear that this show is going to be a party for everyone with dancing by the audience (many of whom have the ability to be on stage) strongly encouraged. As a company they all feel that the show’s themes of inclusivity will be more accepted than it was when Head Over Heels first opened.

George Salazar: I saw the original Broadway company of the original production of Head Over Heels, and I was head over heels in love with that show. 

Alaska 5000: I know Head Over Heels was on Broadway a really short time ago, and so much has changed in our conversation. Now everyone has pronouns after their names in their email. This show is like on the forefront of that. I’m glad we’re doing it right now. 

Yurel Echazarreta: There’s just so much more awareness and even language that we have created. [We’ve] become more aware of the inclusivity and the diversity within humans. I think if the show on Broadway would have happened now it would have been with more cultural awareness. The show helps us chart where we are today. Everything has a time and space and place, and that show helped to get us to where we are here. Now [we’re] able to celebrate an elevated movement even more now.

George Salazar: We as a society and as an industry, we’re really sitting in front of a mirror for a year and a half, questioning – myself included – questioning choices that we’ve made. So this show is a celebration of differences and the celebration of unity among this family, the royal family, they’re so broken and separated. Over the course of this play they see past differences and they work together. By the end there’s this beautiful, renewed love that permeates through this space and I think the audience is really going to feel that.

Tiffany Mann: I think that we have no choice but to sit and first examine ourselves without distraction and in examining ourselves, we realize there are other humans among us and they want to be accepted. And I think in 2021, we have a lower tolerance for people who don’t walk that walk and create lasting human hearts among each other.

Emily Skeggs: I think it’s an understatement to say the world has experienced a seismic shift in a lot of things. What was really exciting to me is there’s this recognition in the world for us to be happy, what kinds of stories where we’re showcasing in the theater and who comes to the theater to experience it and who gets to see themselves.

Freddie: So much has happened in the past year. I think the time is right. I think that people need a sense of community. People are needing a sense of belonging and a space to come together and really feel celebrated. And this is that space. So it’s more than just a show and it’s a celebration of life.

Lea DeLaria: think The Go-Go’s music can tell any kind of story. I knew them as a punk band. I think their contribution to culture is just big. They deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. They deserve to have a great big fun jukebox musical with their music. 

Tiffany Mann: It’s a part of the heartbeat of this culture of American music.You know the music. As soon as it comes on, you don’t even may not even know that you know the lyrics, but you may find yourself singing along the same such feel good music.

Shanice Williams: The music is timeless. I did not grow up listening to it, but when I hear it it makes me want to dance.

Emily Skeggs: [We’re] inviting the audience to join us in the celebration of who we are.

Freddie: I think queer liberation is about everyone feeling like they are worthy of being celebrated. No matter how you show up, you’re beautiful, you’re amazing, you’re perfect.

Tiffany Mann: Whether you agree with every part of the escape, we all agree that we need more than just a break from all the things that are going on outside of us. I just would invite whoever, regardless of your opinions and your beliefs, to just immerse yourself in the world and you will see a little bit of yourself and everybody else.

George Salazar: I want to welcome audience members who feel like they stick out like a sore thumb. Come here and stick out like a sore thumb with all of us. 

Lea DeLaria: We’ve provided [the audience] a dance floor. I want them to become crazy. I want them to jump up and down on that dance floor like we used to get to The Go-Go’s in the 80s. I just I want them to jump up and down and have a time of their life because this is a celebration for all of us. I think we’re all thrilled to be here. 

Check back later this week for our interview with Jenny Koons and Sam Pinkleton.

Head Over Heels is now playing at the Pasadena Playhouse through December 12th.

Main photo: Alaska 5000 and Lea DeLaria in Head Over Heels (All photos by Jeff Lorch/Courtesy Pasadena Playhouse)