Temple Theaters’
Head over Heels
in pictures
“The overall message is love is love is love is love.”
That’s Peter Reynolds—assistant chair; head of musical theater; and associate professor at the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts—describing Head over Heels, the jukebox musical Temple Theaters is staging this winter.
Directed by Reynolds, with choreography by Shannon Murphy, adjunct assistant professor of theater, and music direction by Gina Giachero, a classroom support specialist in theater, the show blends Sir Philip Sidney’s 16th century pastoral romance Arcadia with the music of 1980s rock band The Go-Go’s to tell a story about love, identity and acceptance.
See how the cast and crew brought the show to life.
“We have graduate students designing the set, lights and costumes. And they lost three weeks of in-person time to build and create. There were modifications to the set and certain ideas to be able to pull [everything] off in time. They have pivoted beautifully and have been wonderful collaborators.”
“The most magical moment was our first day together in a room. The musical director had never heard them sing together. Because of the way Zoom works, she’d taught the parts without hearing the cast as they sang the group numbers. It was thrilling for her to be in the room with them and I think it was quite joyful for everyone.”
“The first two weeks of rehearsal were online [because of the coronavirus pandemic]. The text is so heightened—it’s a language-intensive play—and that piece was okay online. We were able to spend time with the text and really investigate it and make sure everyone was very clear about what was going on in it.”
“To compound the complexity of what they’ve been doing, four of the roles are double cast. One performer will do half of the performance and the other person will do the other half, to provide more opportunities because we have an abundance of wonderful performers in our program. The team spirit has been amazing. [The pairs] have been metaphorically joined at the hip as they learn the piece.”
“Musical theater is a highly collaborative art. To not be able to be together, and dance and sing together in a space, has been incredibly difficult for young artists for whom theater is their dream. Being able to be onstage and tell the story together means everything.”
Head over Heels runs Feb. 18 to 24 at Tomlinson Theater. See showtimes and ticket information.
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