Former Wheaton resident part of Kokandy's Chicago premiere of 'Head Over Heels'

Posted June 14, 2019 6:00 am

By Scott C. Morgan

Kokandy Productions presents the Chicago premiere of "Head Over Heels," a 2018 Broadway musical that blends songs by The Go-Go's with the Elizabethan text "The Arcadia." Courtesy of Collin Quinn Rice/Kokandy Productions

The July 5 preview of Kokandy Productions' "Head Over Heels" will be a bit of a mini reunion for Wheaton-Warrenville's Class of '78 speech team.

At least 25 alums will help fill the theater because the unconventional jukebox musical features a script by one of their own - playwright, novelist and dramaturge James Magruder.

Magruder, who now lives in Maryland, will be returning home to see the Chicago premiere of the acclaimed 2018 musical, which draws from two very different sources: the 1980s music catalog of the all-woman rock band The Go-Go's and the plot of "The Arcadia," a late 16th-century gender-bending pastoral romance by the Elizabethan nobleman Sir Philip Sidney.

"How do you explain this show?" Magruder asked. "It's one of those where you have to see it to really get into it."

Parker Guidry stars as Pythio, The Oracle of Delphi, in Kokandy Productions' Chicago premiere of "Head Over Heels." The 2018 Broadway musical features songs by The Go-Go's and a plot inspired by the Elizabethan text "The Arcadia." Courtesy of Collin Quinn Rice/Kokandy Productions

"Avenue Q" playwright Jeff Whitty originally came up with the concept of pairing the music of The Go-Go's ("Vacation," "We Got the Beat") with "The Arcadia." But he left the project due to creative differences.

Magruder was then recruited by Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer ("Spring Awakening," "American Idiot") to adapt the script.

"(Mayer) thought I would be the right person to tackle this wacky mix of the classical and contemporary since we had done the 'Triumph of Love' musical 20 years before," said Magruder, referring to his 1997 Broadway adaptation of Marivaux's 18th-century French comedy with composer Jeffrey Stock and lyricist Susan Birkenhead.

James Magruder adapted the book for "Head Over Heels." Kokandy Productions presents the Chicago debut at Theater Wit. Courtesy of Miriam Berkley

Magruder said the "Head Over Heels" creative team aimed to create "a great big generous, openhearted show for heartless times" rather than taking a snarky or knowing approach to the adaptation. In the process, the musical touched on a variety of issues including female empowerment, toxic masculinity, good governance and body positivity.

With "Head Over Heels," Magruder said members of The Go-Go's were keen to have their music reach new audiences. He also enjoyed the fun personal notes that band members passed along to the creative team during readings and run-throughs.

"They would be like, 'Could this be louder?' or 'Can she wail more?'" Magruder said. "They had a couple of very good dramaturgical ideas on things that they didn't think carried through, but they were mainly hands-off and tremendously supportive." In terms of diversity, "Head Over Heels" broke ground as the first Broadway musical to feature an openly transgender performer in a leading role: "RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 9 finalist Peppermint played the juicy role of Pythio, The Oracle of Delphi. With that in mind, Chicago's Kokandy Productions pledged to be more inclusive with its casting for "Head Over Heels."

Liz Norton and Frankie Leo Bennett star in Kokandy Productions' Chicago premiere of "Head Over Heels." The 2018 Broadway musical features songs by The Go-Go's and a plot inspired by the Elizabethan text "The Arcadia." Courtesy of Collin Quinn Rice/Kokandy Productions

"For us there was an opportunity there to say, 'Well, other roles in the show can also be trans or nonbinary,'" said Kokandy Productions producing artistic director Derek Van Barham. "We have a few members in our cast and creative team who identify as trans or 'gender nonconforming' or 'gender-queer.'"

Magruder says that he and many of his Chicago-area family members will be in attendance for Kokandy's official press opening of "Head Over Heels" on Saturday, July 6. But the preview the night before is sure to be interesting, since Magruder wrote several of his high school classmates into his 2009 semi-autobiographical (and adults-only) novel "Sugarless," Magruder's conflicted portrait of being a gay teenager in Wheaton during the 1970s.

"People who did speech team were all thrilled about it and they were kind of interested that I would have that kind of memory," Magruder said about "Sugarless." "I'm sorry that two of my three speech teachers didn't live to read it because in a way it honors them. I'm a dramaturge and a playwright because I listened to all those 10-minute excerpts of everything from Neil Simon to Molière through competing on speech team."

• • •

"Head Over Heels"

Location: Kokandy Productions at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, (773) 975-8150 or kokandy productions.com

Showtimes: Previews at 7 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, July 1-3, and 8 p.m. Friday, July 5. Regular run: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday (also Wednesday, July 31, Aug. 14 and 21), 3 p.m. Sunday (also Saturday, July 27, Aug. 10 and 24). Runs through Aug. 25.

Tickets: $25 previews; $35-$40 regular run

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