鈥淵ou can't take away the fact that we were the very first successful female band that wrote all their own songs and played all their own instruments,鈥� said Jane Wiedlin proudly as she and three of her fellow bandmates of The Go-Go's (Belinda Carlisle, Kathy Valentine, and Charlotte Caffey) sat with Tracy Smith of CBS Sunday Morning on July 22.
The landmark group celebrates another career milestone this week: their Broadway debut. The new musical Head Over Heels, directed by Tony winner Michael Mayer, officially opens at the Hudson Theatre July 26. Based on the Philip Sidney play Arcadia, the musical features the songs of The Go-Go鈥檚, including hits 鈥淲e鈥檝e Got the Beat,鈥� 鈥淥ur Lips Are Sealed,鈥� and the titular song.
WATCH: THE GO-GO鈥橲 SURPRISE HEAD OVER HEELS AUDIENCES WITH A CURTAIN CALL PERFORMANCE
The cast includes RuPaul's Drag Race star Peppermint, (), (Disaster!), (), Andrew Durand (), Taylor Iman Jones (), Bonnie Milligan (the national tour of ), and Tom Alan Robbins ().
But, as you can imagine, The Go-Go鈥檚 hit their fair share of roadblocks when they first started out. 鈥淭hey wouldn't sign us because we were women or girls. We were girls then,鈥� said Carlisle. 鈥淚 think it emboldened us,鈥� added Wiedlin.
Their songs have made for fertile ground when it comes to the comedy and drama of musical theatre. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a Go-Go trademark that we always make an effort not to make any [song] 100 percent happy or 100 percent sad. We like to mix things together to keep things more interesting,鈥� said Wiedlin.
The group also spoke about their inner turmoil, break-ups, make-ups, and more. Watch the full segment in the video above.
