Head Over Heels is a queer-coded jukebox musical using an unlikely mashup. The plot is loosely based on Arcadia, an Elizabethan pastoral romance by Sir Philip Sidney set in ancient Greece, which is combined with 1980s anthems by the all-female American post-punk rock band The Go-Go’s.

First staged in 2015, the original book by Jeff Whitty was subsequently adapted by James Magruder before the show made it to Broadway in 2018.

Thomas Campbell, Adam Noviello and cast members in Head Over Heels. Photo © Kate Williams © katesyourmate

The gender-bending, farcical romp is set in beat-rich Arcadia, which is ruled by the conservative King Basilius (Thomas Campbell) and his sardonic wife Gynecia (J Ridler). Their beautiful, vain daughter Pamela (Lucy Lalor replacing the indisposed Shannen Alyce Quan) refuses every princely suitor who seeks her hand, while her sister Philoclea (Jenni Little) is being wooed by the shepherd Musidorus (Adam Noviello), who is not considered a suitable match.

When the non-binary oracle Pythio (Gaz Dutlow) tells Basilius that the beat will be lost and Arcadia will perish if four prophecies are fulfilled, Basilius sets off on a journey, with his family in tow,...