Saturday, February 24, 2024, 7:30 PM

Street and Davis Performance Hall, Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre

Moss Arts Center co-commission

This performance will last one hour with no intermission.

*Run times listed here are based on information provided at this time and are subject to change.

THIS PERFORMANCE HAS ALREADY OCCURRED.

PROGRAM NOTEs

View the program for this event here.

 

"For many years, I’ve wanted to see my music reimagined in some kind of theatrical production — not just a jukebox musical formula of songs, but an original work with its own story and appeal. I’ve found an ideal collaborator in Mark Morris, whose brilliant choreography and deep musicality give songs new meaning and dimension through movement. Like a great melody, his dances evoke an atmosphere and inspire feelings, and I think that’s just what the world needs now.”

— Burt Bacharach

Internationally celebrated choreographer Mark Morris teams up with collaborator Ethan Iverson for this evening-length homage to the legendary late Burt Bacharach. A towering figure of popular music, Bacharach is known for soaring melodies influenced by jazz, rock, and Brazilian music — his longtime lyricist Hal David providing unsentimental, poignant lyrics. Favorites like Walk on By propel Morris’ deceptively simple, yet glorious movement.

This evening-length work features original choreography by Morris and new musical arrangements by Iverson, performed by an ensemble of piano, trumpet, bass, and drums, with singer, actress, and Broadway star Marcy Harriell on lead vocals. Famed American fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi created the costumes for the production.

About Mark Morris Dance Group

Founded in New York City in 1980, the internationally renowned Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) has been called “the preeminent modern dance organization of our time” (Yo-Yo Ma), its members receiving “highest praise for their technical aplomb, their musicality, and their sheer human authenticity” (Bloomberg News). Live music and community engagement are vital components of the Dance Group, which has toured with its own musicians, the MMDG Music Ensemble, since 1996. 

About Mark Morris

Mark Morris has been praised as the “most successful and influential choreographer alive and indisputably the most musical” (New York Times). Since founding the Mark Morris Dance Group in 1980, Morris has created over 150 works for the company, many of which are widely considered masterpieces. 

Morris has established himself as someone who “easily ranks among the top five living American choreographers… and has already carved a major place for himself in the history of modern dance” (The Denver Post). Renowned as an intensely musical choreographer, Morris is undeviating in his devotion to music. He has worked extensively in opera; directing and choreographing at the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera as well as Covent Garden and many others.

Morris is also an acclaimed ballet choreographer. His works have been commissioned and performed by San Francisco Ballet, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre, to name a few. He is named Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation and has received 11 honorary doctorates to date. In recent years, he has received the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement (2007), the Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society (2010), the Benjamin Franklin Laureate Prize for Creativity (2012), the Cal Performances Award of Distinction in the Performing Arts (2013), the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Gift of Music Award (2014), and the Doris Duke Artists Award (2016).

About Marcy Harriell

Marcy Harriell is a singer, actress, and designer. Her ability to passionately embrace diverse vocal styles has made her a standout in New York theatre. Jumping lithely amongst opera, rock, jazz, and R&B, the New York Times recently hailed her as a vocalist who “demolishes the furious torch song” with a “rafter rattling intensity.” Broadway star turns include Tony Award-winning musicals In the Heights, Rent, and her nightly show-stopping performance in Lennon, where the New York Post declared this “wildcat kitten” a “star in the making.” 

This performance is supported in part by gifts from Ms. Ann Goette and Joseph A. Hopkins and Linda W. Hopkins.

This is the first performance by Mark Morris Dance Group at the Moss Arts Center.