by Michele Markarian

“Head Over Heels: The Musical” – Based on “The Arcadia” by Sir Philip Sidney. Conceived and Original Book by James Whitty. Adapted by James Magruder. Produced and directed by Brian Boruta. Music Direction by David Wright. Choreographed by Lara Finn Banister. Presented by The Umbrella Stage Company, 40 Stow Street, Concord, through May 8.

“Arcadian culture has flourished with its adherence to tradition,” boasts King Basilius (Damon Singletary), who runs a tight, patriarchal ship that includes his wife, the Queen Gynecia (Katie Pickett) and two daughters, Philiclea (Temma Beaudreau) and Pamela (Bri Ryder).  Pamela is already proving to be a problem, as none of the suitors her parents present to her year after year are to her taste. Younger sister Philiclea is also a problem, having fallen in love with a man beneath her station, a shepherd named Musidorus (John Breen). At the end of his patience, Basilius goes to visit the oracle Pythio (the magnificent Kai Clifton), who gives him four prophesies. Basilius, liking none of them, decides to hide the truth from his wife and daughters, much to the dismay of his manservant Dametas (Robert Saoud). What follows is two hours of light-hearted, gender-bending frivolity as the kingdom’s inhabitants vacate for Bohemia’s gates.  With seventeen songs by the Go-Gos, this is an impossible show not to like.

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