Pinkleton and Jenny Koons (the other half of the creative team) have put together a show that feels both of the moment and just what we need in this moment. Anyone who knows such songs as We Got the Beat, Vacation and Our Lips Are Sealed already knows how buoyant they are. To experience those hit songs as part of an audience given a chance to be on the stage with the cast is a gift after so much time during the pandemic wondering when the isolation might end.

Halfway through rehearsals I spoke with Koons and Pinkleton about taking on a significantly revised version of a musical that, frankly, failed on Broadway. Their journey began when they saw Head Over Heels in New York.

“We saw Head Over Heels together in New York on Broadway,” Koons says, “and had a great time and really fell in love with the joy of it and the way that the Go-Go’s music had been integrated.” It should be noted that the storyline is based on Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney which was published in the late 16th century.

As much as they both enjoyed the musical, it wasn’t the type of show they usually do. The two have collaborated on Burn All Night at American Repertory Theatre and a new production of the Elizabeth Swados musical Runaways in New York.

“The way that it was presented on Broadway, which was very much a proscenium musical with two acts, was not necessarily how either of us works,” Pinkleton revealed. That wasn’t the kind of show the Pasadena Playhouse had in mind either.

Koons says, “When the Playhouse approached us about imagining this in a different form as a party – people on the floor, everyone dancing to the beat – it felt like a question of can we take what we loved about the experience we had and make it amplified even more. So it was less about how do you reduce something and more about how we take what we love and make those things even louder in real life.”

As both Pinkleton and Koons began their exploration as to the best way to answer that question, it became apparent that they were doing more than just a production of a pre-existing show.

“It feels like a gift that we are coming at this with fresh eyes; making new musicals is really hard and really ugly,” said Pinkleton. “I feel like we’re having the process of making something new, even if the script in the show is kind of a given.”

Along with the team at the Pasadena Playhouse, there was a reason they wanted to do something different with Head Over Heels.

“In this moment of twenty twenty one,” Koons says of their thinking, “what is the story that we’re all telling as we come back together. I think how we’ve approached this, from looking at it with the Playhouse, was as an invitation back. Welcome home. Welcome back! What does it mean to be gathering again in person.”

It’s an invitation that for anyone and everyone – whether your knew The Go-Go’s music or the story in the show.

Pinkleton explains. “Welcome back to people who just happen to be walking down the street. Welcome back to people who would never expect to come into a theater. I don’t think that that’s something we’re imposing on this show. I actually think that’s the heartbeat of the show. I think there’s a queerness and an openness and a curiosity – the show is about that. It’s the story of people who go on a journey to discover that everything they needed, they had the whole time.”

What Koons and Pinkleton did so well with the show was to assemble a cast where anyone who sees the show will find themselves represented on stage. The cast includes 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).

That was precisely the point offers Koons.

“The goal has been to create something unique for the performers and artists that we gather. I feel like we’re constantly on our toes for how we really shape this to them. We made a joke in the first week that it’s like the Queer Avengers. How do we make sure that all eight and that the humans we have gathered feel able to be there for ourselves in a way that can invite audience members to do the same.”

They two directors also made sure that their vision was shared by the cast they hired Koons offered.

“With the performers that we have gathered this feels very much like a shared mission. Yes, we’re doing a show, we’re doing it in the midst of a crazy moment in time. And all of us are coming to this with the spirit of an open invitation that really is for everyone.”

As much as you might enjoy the show, Pinkleton believes it’s something more that will be part of the experience of seeing Head Over Heels.

“The thing we’ve been missing the most is bodies,” he says, “living, breathing humans. So nothing is going to be more spectacular than the humans. And that’s true for the performers, and that’s true for the audience.”

As someone who experienced the show on the stage with the show happening all around me, I can vouch that the greatest joy came from dancing, celebrating and enjoying this shared space with so many wonderful people.

To watch the complete interview with Jenny Koons and Sam Pinkleton, please go to our YouTube channel here.

Head Over Heels continues at the Pasadena Playhouse through December 12th. For tickets go here.

Main Photo: Lea DeLaria, Alaska 5000, Shanice Williams and George Salazar in Head Over Heels (Photo by Jeff Lorch/All photos courtesy Pasadena Playhouse)

The post Koons & Pinkleton Turn “Head Over Heels” On Its Head appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

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)

The post The “Head Over Heels” Cast Invites You to Their Party appeared first on Cultural Attaché.