MMDG: L'Allegro, Il Penseroso ed Il Moderato

[Helene]

I've loved this full-length work by Mark Morris ever since I first saw it. It is full of walking, gesture, and ritual.

Joy was seeing familiar faces; Joe Bowie has been dancing this work for almost 20 years. (It premiered in Brussels in November, 1998.) It is also seeing Lauren Grant's first entrance in any work and knowing that I will see quicksilver starts and stops and direction changes and a complete commitment to the music. Two other standouts were dancers I was too far away to know for sure by face, but I believe the tall(est) brunette with a barrette in her hair, wearing brown with blue underskirt in Part I and rose in Part II was Amber Darragh. I just don't know who the man who wore pale blue with a yellow sash in both parts was. (David Leventhal?) ETA: The review in The Seattle Times confirmed that this was David Leventhal.

All four vocal soloists were superb -- Christine Brandes, James Maddalena, John McVeigh, and Lisa Saffer -- and while the acoustics in the theater were disappointing -- only about the first 10 of maybe 30 rows in the orchestra are not under the balcony overhang -- the Seattle Symphony and Symphony Chorale sounded as good as they could, given those limitations.

There were a lot of people in my section who've been following Mark Morris' work for years, and several locals, like the woman sitting a few seats away from me who reminisced about how she remembered him from when he was in high school, "dancing anywhere and with anyone he could." It must be disconcerting to see his head of curls shot with gray. But he still takes the most elegant bow of anyone on stage.

[sandik]

Oh, I was there Friday night, and am humming still. When I first saw this I was gobsmacked by how he was able to take such simple material and make such profound art with it, and I feel the same way now. From the opening when the intermeshing lines shift from single time to doubletime and my heart accelerates at the same pace, to the finish with that beautiful suspension before they end, running in a circle.

And all the great stuff in the middle!

[Helene]

I went again this afternoon, and I'm still on cloud nine.

I wanted to note the man in blue with the purple sash, who excelled in the mime episodes he was in, including Eurydice in Part II. (Dallas McMurray?)

[bart]

It's good to hear how captivating this work still is. Does anyone remember a documentary from the late 80s, I think, about Morris in Brusssels? It was from the South Bank Show on Britain's ITV, and there was a good deal about putting together this ballet, as I recall. (Unfortunately, the tape I made of this telecast has somehow disappeared.)

There's a big book of photos about the ballet (same title) available on Amazon, but no performance dvd or even used vhs that I am aware of. What a lost opportunity to preserve a masterpiece.

[sandik]

It's good to hear how captivating this work still is. Does anyone remember a documentary from the late 80s, I think, about Morris in Brusssels? It was from the South Bank Show on Britain's ITV, and there was a good deal about putting together this ballet, as I recall. (Unfortunately, the tape I made of this telecast has somehow disappeared.)

There's a big book of photos about the ballet (same title) available on Amazon, but no performance dvd or even used vhs that I am aware of. What a lost opportunity to preserve a masterpiece.

I still have my copy of the tape around here somewhere -- I do wish there was another version, though. The book is lovely, isn't it?