Imagine, if you will, that you are stoned, mind-tripping in a happy place and hanging out with friends when someone puts the stereo on to play a jazz-fusion psychedelic remix of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In your mind’s eye your friends have changed into 1960’s Carnaby Street chic and are dancing energetically. The famous album cover has come alive. If that is a place you would like to go, then Pepperland by the Mark Morris Dance Group is likely to be the ticket for you to enjoy an hour of brightly-coloured Beatles-inspired fun.

But note I said ‘inspired’ and not ‘tribute’. The genre of the tribute band or act, while having enjoyed great popularity for the last two decades and having several excellent Beatles spin-off groups, tends to aim for faithfulness to the original as a prime-objective. Pepperland, on the other hand, takes The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper as an inspirational starting point, and then runs off and does its own thing.  

Visually, our senses are stimulated by rich bold colour. The staging was extremely minimalist, consisting only of the rear wall in simple colour wash that changed imperceptibly, and a big roll of tin foil scrunched up inexplicably at the back of the floor area. Arguably this meant that eyes were not being distracted from the dancing. Conversely, part of the psychedelic impact of the Sgt Pepper era was created through sensory overload, which for me was not quite achieved here. However, the visual ‘pop’ was not lacking overall, as the wardrobe was fantastic. The outfits were brightly coloured and varied, and so reminiscent of the imagery of the era that I felt I had time-travelled.

I was left in two minds by the music. The musicians were absolutely first rate and the compositions successfully reflected some of the nuances of the oriental and mystical that we have come to associate with the late work of The Beatles. In this it was clever, but maybe a little too clever. The rendition of “When I’m Sixty-four” was deliberately stilted, matched by the choreography being out of sync, creating an effect of being out of time and disjointed. This worked for a few bars, but once the point had been made, it dragged. Other songs, such as Penny Lane and the title track of the album, were more faithfully arranged but lacked the cutting edge of being simple and raw. I was left with the impression that the root chords and basic but catchy melodies of the four working class Liverpool lads had been diluted by the erudite and consummate class musicianship of the production band. The result, for me, was much greater musical sophistication, but less impact.

The dancing was great fun and maintained an infectious energy, as bright and ebullient as the outfits of the performers, the dazzle justifying the sunglasses worn on occasion. The company performed as a team, and the sense of relationship was warm regardless which dancer or dancers were centre-stage, but especially when performing as a troupe. The choreography was a perfect fit for the project, being both abstract at times, but never entirely losing the narrative thread. There were humorous moments, and tender loving ones too, but the main thrust was joie de vivre, a celebration in dance of the era defined by Sgt Pepper. In this it both succeeded and entertained.     ★★★☆☆    Robert Gainer    27^th  March 2019