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Theater Review: “HeadEye” an eye-opener at Touchstone

Touchstone Theatre is taking you on a trip.

The Southside Bethlehem theater is presenting “HeadEye: The Musical,” which takes HeadEye and his crew for an intergalactic journey that teaches them about friendship and love.

The nearly two-hour production (with no intermission) features 15 songs by Jason E.R. Hedrington, who plays the lead role of HeadEye, an alien and spaceship captain. HeadEye is named for the huge third eye on the top of his head.

The musical is directed by Christopher Shorr, with music and lyrics by Hedrington, and book by Jp Jordan and Shorr.

The March 8 performance was seen for this theater review.

The performance begins with spacey instrumental keyboard work by HeadEye (Hedrington).

The two-level Touchstone stage has fabulous graphics and sets, designed by Nate Fehlauer, Jordan and Shorr, with lighting design by Chris Egging, backed with continuously changing dual videos, by video designers Fehlauer and Shorr, with the screens showing stars and psychedelic effects.

The costumes, designed by Matt Prideaux and Mary Wright, are equally fantastic, created for a crew of varied species.

Dipper (Tyler Garrett) is a bear with an accent like Scotty from “Star Trek.”

Hawkeye (Egging) is an eagle given to Shakespearean ruminations.

Dr. Roberto (Prideaux) spends much of his time in a large box.

Half-mermaid, half-dog Mermutt is a puppet operated by Samantha Beedle.

HeadEye’s species, also named HeadEye, has forbidden the expression of love. Even the word love cannot be mentioned.

HeadEye’s interest in love gets him in trouble with his planet’s council. Three members of the council visit his ship and judge him.

It seems that HeadEye previously visited Earth and found a girlfriend, Earth Girl (Tina Lea). The two led an idealized hippie lifestyle without the Earth Girl knowing that the disguised HeadEye was from the planet Talfamadore.

The innocent HeadEye finds it difficult to separate love from lust, which places him in the clutches of Slippery Sister (Amber Charest). She separates him from his crew and sends him to find answers from someone called Mermaid Mama, much to the dismay of Mermutt.

Touchstone has a warning about sexual content and portrayal of drug use in the show. These are pretty mild, and the musical could be appealing to older children.

“HeadEye: The Musical” contains a lot of dancing, with recurring scenes featuring a HeadEye dance party, and Slippery Sister’s home base, which is a groovy place of glittering costumes and DJs.

At the heart of it all, this is a heartfelt musical with a lot of love songs and a happy ending. With its mixture of Broadway spirit and space travel, it might be a pleasant trip for theater-goers.

“HeadEye: The Musical,” concludes its run, 2 p.m. March 10, Touchstone Theatre, 321 E. Fourth St., Bethlehem, 610-867-1689, https://touchstone.org/

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO From left: Jason E.R. Hedrington (HeadEye), Chris Egging (Hawkeye), Tyler Garrett (Dipper), Matt Prideaux (Dr. Roberto), Sam Beedle (puppeting Mermutt), “HeadEye: The Musical,” Touchstone Theatre, Bethlehem.