This review has drawn significant feedback. It has since been edited. Read our response here. You would think that a sexually polymorphous musical that combines a Renaissance pastoral romance with the songs of the 1980s California rock group the Go-Go’s would at the very least be a hoot, a show that could get sloppy drunk on its own outrageousness. Yet “Head Over Heels,” which opened on Thursday night at the Hudson Theater, feels as timid and awkward as the new kid on the first day of school. Make that the new kid who longs to run with the wild crowd but can’t quite commit to being as bad as coolness demands. Directed by Michael Mayer, who has been more than competent at the helm of Broadway rock musicals like “American Idiot” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” “Head Over Heels” lacks the courage of its contradictions. It mutters deferentially when what you want is a rebel yell. Paradox is at the heart of this production, which was conceived and originally written by Jeff Whitty (“Avenue Q”), then adapted by James Magruder (best known for his stage versions of literary classics). It was Mr. Whitty who had the idea of reimagining Philip Sidney’s “The Arcadia,” a 16th-century fantasy of trouble in paradise, as a picturesque frame for the pop hits of the Go-Go’s. That all-female band, as you may know (and if you don’t, you are not this production’s target audience), rode its rough-edged combination of punk riotousness and surfer-girl sunniness to the top of the pop charts in the early 1980s. Though many of their hits ponder the vagaries of love, they otherwise have little in common with an arcane literary universe that is usually the province of graduate students.<doc-sep>UPDATE: Ben Brantley has issued an apology over his review for HEAD OVER HEELS. To read more click here. Late Thursday evening, following the publication of the New York Times theatre review of Head Over Heels, members of the Broadway community took to social media to express outrage over a review which many have dubbed transphobic. Early in the review, critic Ben Brantley seems to invalidate an entire gender identity, writing "And its dichotomous nature matches the didactic thrust of a show that celebrates the importance of not being (and pardon me, for trotting out what's starting to feel like the decade's most overused word) binary." Later in the review he purposefully misgenders a non-binary character, played by trans actress Peppermint (the first openly trans woman to play a principal role on Broadway) - writing "Dametas (Tom Alan Robbins), the King's viceroy and father of Mopsa, finds himself strangely drawn to her - I mean them." In the show, it is explicitly stated early on (and is a major plot point) that the character Brantley is referring to uses the pronouns they/them. Read all the reviews for HEAD OVER HEELS here. See just some of the comments from the community below:<doc-sep>Looks like Ben Brantley needs to Go-Go away. The chief theater critic of The New York Times is in hot water over his review of the new Broadway musical Head Over Heels, which features the music of the female rock group the Go-Gos. Brantley wasn’t a fan of the show. But it wasn’t his critique of the production that rankled readers as much as his description of one character. RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Peppermint made her Broadway debut in Head Over Heeels, becoming the first transgender woman to create a principal role on Broadway. Peppermint uses feminine pronouns in her Playbill bio, but her character Pythio identifies as “non-binary plural.” That was too much for Brantley. In one section of the review, he described how a male character in the show “finds himself strangely drawn to her—I mean them.” He also wrote that “gender binary” was an overused term. Brantley’s critiques have been catty for years, but many people thought his misgendering of a non-binary character showed discomfort with trans people in general. Commenters on the Broadway World message board called Brantley’s comment “off-putting,” “petty” and a “microaggression.” “His comments show his age and irrelevance,” one person wrote. “It’s downright offensive and hurtful,” another chimed in. “I’m flabbergasted. My jaw hasn’t come off the floor yet.” More criticism piled up on Twitter. who else is shocked ben brantley is a condescending fuck face pic.twitter.com/y4KbWQ9ksU — laura j. brown (@laurjbrown) July 27, 2018 If this is how dismissive you are about nonbinary gender identity, perhaps you are not the right person to be reviewing this show! pic.twitter.com/H3rysqeEwf — Louis Peitzman (@LouisPeitzman) July 27, 2018 Brantley, who is openly gay, has reviewed for the Times since 1993. But no critic, no matter how established, is infallible. Many readers rightly pointed out that an editor should’ve corrected Brantley’s language before publishing the review. And this morning (admittedly after the damage was done) they finally did. The review was updated to read “He finds himself strangely drawn to Pythio.” Brantley’s discomfort with the term “gender binary” was also deleted. The critic said he was “deeply sorry” about the language he used. “I feel horrible about having offended transgender and non-binary communities,” Brantley said in a statement. “This unfortunately read as more flippant than I would ever have intended, especially with regard to a performance that marks a historical first.” Brantley may have seen the error of his ways. But that doesn’t change the fact the Times theater section has been alarmingly sloppy of late. On Sunday night Laura Collins-Hughes’ review of the Smokey Joe’s Cafe revival came under fire thanks to an unflattering comment about the weight of cast member Alysha Umphress. “Ms. Umphress, by the way, is bigger than the other women onstage, and the costume designer, Alejo Vietti, doesn’t seem to have known how to work with that, dressing her in an unnecessarily unflattering way,” Collins-Hughes wrote (that line is still in the piece online). Collins-Hughes isn’t the first critic, or even female critic, to fat shame. British TV personality Katie Hopkins once accused Kelly Clarkson of “eating all her backup singers,” and Observer’s Rex Reed has described Melissa McCarthy as “tractor-sized,” “obese” and “a hippo.” But thankfully not every reviewer is transphobic or a fat-shamer. Exhibit A is the Times‘ own Jesse Green, who shares chief theater critic duties with Brantley. In his review this week of the Broadway play Straight White Men, Green defined the gender identities of the two non-binary characters with perfect clarity. He discussed “Kate Bornstein, a gender theorist who defines herself as non-binary, and Ty Defoe, a two-spirit member of the Oneida and Ojibwe nations.” That puts everything out in the open—and the online version of the review includes links so readers know exactly what those terms mean. So Green proved that being respectful and inclusive isn’t difficult. Brantley and his problematic Times cohorts should take a lesson.<doc-sep>
Late Thursday evening, following the publication of the New York Times theatre review of Head Over Heels, members of the Broadway community took to social media to express outrage over a review which many have dubbed transphobic. Now Brantley has responded to the outrage, writing "I feel horrible about having offended transgender and nonbinary communities. I was trying to reflect the light tone of the show, as well as a plot point in which one character learns to acknowledge another not as "she" but as "they" - this was meant to be a reference to the character of the Oracle, not Peppermint, the person who plays the role. Thisunfortunately read as more flippant than I would ever have intended, especially with regard to a performance that marks a historical first. I am deeply sorry." Early in the review, critic Ben Brantley seems to invalidate an entire gender identity, writing "And its dichotomous nature matches the didactic thrust of a show that celebrates the importance of not being (and pardon me, for trotting out what's starting to feel like the decade's most overused word) binary." Later in the review he purposefully misgenders a non-binary character, played by trans actress Peppermint (the first openly trans woman to play a principal role on Broadway) - writing "Dametas (Tom Alan Robbins), the King's viceroy and father of Mopsa, finds himself strangely drawn to her - I mean them." In the show, it is explicitly stated early on (and is a major plot point) that the character Brantley is referring to uses the pronouns they/them. Read all the reviews for Head Over Heels here. From the visionaries that rocked Broadway with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Next To Normal, American Idiot, Spring Awakening and Avenue Q, the Head Over Heels creative team is led by director Michael Mayer with musical supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Tom Kittand choreography by Spencer Liff. Head Over Heels was conceived and has an original book by Jeff Whitty and is adapted by James Magruder. Head Over Heels is based upon The Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney. The creative team also includes scenic by Julian Crouch, costume design by Arianne Phillips, lighting design by Kevin Adams, sound design by Kai Harada and projection design by Andrew Lazarow. Casting by Jim Carnahan Casting. Kimberly Grigsby serves as Musical Director. Lisa Iacucci is Production Stage Manager. In the kingdom of Arcadia, the "beat" is divine. But when an oracle's prophecy of doom threatens its beloved beat, it propels the king and his royal family through a journey of mistaken identities, jealous lovers, secret rendezvouses and sexual awakening - where everything (and everyone) is not what it seems. Head Over Heels features 18 of The Go-Go's iconic hit songs including "We Got the Beat," "Get Up and Go," "Cool Jerk," "Vacation," "Our Lips Are Sealed," "Lust to Love," "Head Over Heels" and Belinda Carlisle's solo hits "Mad About You" and "Heaven is a Place on Earth."