HEAD OVER HEELS Reviews

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 10:38am

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 10:52am

I saw the show yesterday, and, while I'm not expecting raves, I don't think the reviews will be overly harsh. I thought it was a fun and completely innocuous couple of hours, and the physical production was great-looking. I'll admit that the Go-Go's music catalog doesn't seem ripe for a stage adaptation, but, for me, the show never went into "hot mess" territory.

[CaseyBrent41]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 11:05am

Really crossing my fingers. I want them to AT LEAST get good decent reviews, even if their advertising and sales suck. Hopefully the critics review it as it is and not what they would rather it be. 

[little_sally]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 12:11pm

CaseyBrent41 said: "Really crossing my fingers. I want them to AT LEAST get good decent reviews, even if their advertising and sales suck. Hopefully the critics review it as it is and not what they would rather it be."

Agreed. It's a fun, cute show that embraces exactly what it is. Plus it's one of the best casts I've seen in a musical in a long time.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 12:21pm

little_sally said: "CaseyBrent41 said: "Really crossing my fingers. I want them to AT LEAST get good decent reviews, even if their advertising and sales suck. Hopefully the critics review it as it is and not what they would rather it be."

Agreed. It's a fun, cute show that embraces exactly what it is. Plus it's one of the best casts I've seen in a musical in a long time."

The dancers were nothing short of incredible. Wish them the best. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 12:38pm

I’m really interested in this thread tonight. Its been over a decade since I’ve hated a show more than this one, but people who see it just seem to be eating it up.

[Bette's Turban]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 12:43pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I’m really interested in this thread tonight. Its been over a decade since I’ve hated a show more than this one, but people who see it just seem to be eating it up."

 

Didn't you love "On Your Feet"?  Was that you?  Or "CallMe Jorge"  ?  Not judging.  Just trying to remember. 

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 12:46pm

I did love that show. I’m a Florida boy who was raised up on Gloria! :)

[Bette's Turban]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 12:49pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I did love that show. I’m a Florida boy who was raised up on Gloria! :)"

I enjoyed it too,  Kind of in the same way I enjoyed the last Mamma Mia movie.  I enjoyed it for what it was. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 7:43pm

Nothing yet?

[David10086]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 7:48pm

Is this supposed to be worse than "Summer" (which I'm going to see on Sunday afternoon) ? 

[DCS]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 7:48pm

DC Theatre Scene

https://dctheatrescene.com/2018/07/26/review-head-over-heels-elizabethan-silliness-to-80s-go-gos-songs/

[DCS]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 8:05pm

AM New York

https://www.amny.com/entertainment/head-over-heels-review-1.20115705

[MusicAndPassion]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 8:21pm

It’s not too hard to envision a simple but at least workable structure for a Go-Go’s jukebox musical. It could have been about a “Good Girl” who goes on “Vacation” and falls “Head Over Heels” for a “Cool Jerk.”

This AM NY review is terrible. It seems Matt Windman disliked it because the show wasn't what he wanted it to be. Those jukebox musicals have been done time and time again. What Head Over Heels does it something new and different with a band's music. 

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 8:27pm

”This AM NY review is terrible. It seems Matt Windman disliked it because the show wasn't what he wanted it to be.Those jukebox musicals have been done time and time again. What Head Over Heels does it something new and different with a band's music."

This is why I really enjoyed the show.  It had creativity.  I’m not a fan of Beautiful, On Your Feet, etc. because it’s nasically Behind the Music with impersonators (and I know those people are working very hard.  It’s not their fault).  I’ll be sad if this is completely panned.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 8:27pm

I think the DC Theatre Scene review is also poorly written. It feels disjointed and more just telling what happens rather than critically reviewing the show’s positive and problematic aspects.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 8:30pm

MusicAndPassion said: "It’s not too hard to envision a simple but at least workable structure for a Go-Go’s jukebox musical. It could have been about a “Good Girl” who goes on “Vacation” and falls “Head Over Heels” for a “Cool Jerk.”

This AM NY review is terrible. It seems Matt Windman disliked it because the show wasn't what he wanted it to be.Those jukebox musicals have been done time and time again. What Head Over Heels does it something new and different with a band's music."

Good Vibrations. He's describing Good Vibrations.

Now that's a show I want to relive on a bootleg.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 8:40pm

Anyone have access to WSJ so we can read this review?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/straight-white-men-and-head-over-heels-reviews-all-identity-all-the-time-1532651400

[NievesG]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 8:47pm

Miles2Go2 said: "Anyone have access to WSJ so we can read this review?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/straight-white-men-and-head-over-heels-reviews-all-identity-all-the-time-1532651400"

 

"Yet another comic exercise in applied identity politics is playing one block east of “Straight White Men”: “Head Over Heels” is a jukebox musical whose score consists of songs recorded by the Go-Go’s, an all-female new-wave power-pop group that had a brief vogue in the ’80s. Very freely adapted by Jeff Whitty from “The Arcadia,” Philip Sidney’s 16th-century pastoral romance about mistaken gender identity, it’s been extensively reworked by James Magruder since its original 2015 Oregon Shakespeare Festival run, to no more than modest effect. The book is still a sophomoric mess, and the 17 songs, which are mostly either fast or rather less so, are lively but unvaried.

Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening" has done what he can to put a directorial shine on “Head Over Heels.” Spencer Liff’s choreography is excitingly volatile and the sets and costumes are expensively fancy, while the five-piece pit band is as hot as a runaway atomic pile. Bonnie Milligan, a delightful performer with pipes to die for who previously appeared in the 2015 production, nails best-in-show honors as the horrifically vain Princess Pamela, who searches in vain for a suitable swain, then belatedly figures out that she’s a lesbian (GASP!). Everyone else in the cast takes care of business, and if you really, really like the Go-Go’s, you might possibly find the results tolerable. I doubt there are still enough Go-Go’s fans out there to make “Head Over Heels” a hit, but stranger things have happened on Broadway."

*edited because of random emoji in paragraph*

Updated On: 7/26/18 at 08:47 PM

[bwayboy22]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 8:50pm

Here's the WSJ Review:

Yet another comic exercise in applied identity politics is playing one block east of “Straight White Men”: “Head Over Heels” is a jukebox musical whose score consists of songs recorded by the Go-Go’s, an all-female new-wave power-pop group that had a brief vogue in the ’80s. Very freely adapted by Jeff Whitty from “The Arcadia,” Philip Sidney’s 16th-century pastoral romance about mistaken gender identity, it’s been extensively reworked by James Magruder since its original 2015 Oregon Shakespeare Festival run, to no more than modest effect. The book is still a sophomoric mess, and the 17 songs, which are mostly either fast or rather less so, are lively but unvaried.

 

Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening&rdquo has done what he can to put a directorial shine on “Head Over Heels.” Spencer Liff’s choreography is excitingly volatile and the sets and costumes are expensively fancy, while the five-piece pit band is as hot as a runaway atomic pile. Bonnie Milligan, a delightful performer with pipes to die for who previously appeared in the 2015 production, nails best-in-show honors as the horrifically vain Princess Pamela, who searches in vain for a suitable swain, then belatedly figures out that she’s a lesbian (GASP!). Everyone else in the cast takes care of business, and if you really, really like the Go-Go’s, you might possibly find the results tolerable. I doubt there are still enough Go-Go’s fans out there to make “Head Over Heels” a hit, but stranger things have happened on Broadway.

 

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 8:53pm

Thanks, NievesG and bwayboy22.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 9:02pm

Hollywood Reporter:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/head-over-heels-theater-1129877

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 9:06pm

Chicago Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/broadway/sc-ent-head-over-heels-broadway-review-0727-story.html

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 9:20pm

Time Out is positive:

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/head-over-heels-review

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 7/26/18 at 9:26pm

its entertaining to watch bww editors try to grab any positive snippets from the mostly terrible reviews to try and prop this trainwreck up....