Pepperland is a unique, new evening-length work by choreographer Mark Morris that pays tribute to the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The piece kicked off Liverpool’s summer-long Sgt. Pepper at 50 Festival in 2017.
Pepperland features an original score by composer Ethan Iverson, interspersing arrangements of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, “With a Little Help From My Friends”, “A Day in the Life”, “When I’m Sixty-Four”, “Within You Without You”, and “Penny Lane” with six Pepper-inspired original pieces intended especially for Mark Morris’ profound understanding of classical forms: Allegro, Scherzo, Adagio, and the blues.
An unprecedented chamber music ensemble of voice, theremin, soprano sax, trombone, piano, organ, harpsichord, and percussion teases out and elaborates on Sgt. Pepper’s non-rock and roll influences.
This colorful new work resounds with the ingenuity, musicality, wit, and humanity for which the company is known.
“With high-spirited humour, eccentric charm and a joyous musical sensibility, Morris and his composer, Ethan Iverson, have revisited the album’s ambition and influence to produce an hourlong celebration that is as ingenious as it is entertaining...”