Editor’s Pick: Mark Morris Dance – ‘The Look of Love’
'The Look of Love,' at the Kennedy Center, salutes composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David through modern dance.
In November of 2019, the Kennedy Center presented Pepperland, a dance tribute to the classic Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band from modern dance pioneer Mark Morris working in collaboration with jazz composer Ethan Iverson.
Three years later, the collaborative duo are ready with the East Coast premiere of another Kennedy Center co-commission and evening-length dance-theater work in tribute to mid-to-late 20th-century pop.
“The Look of Love” salutes composer Burt Bacharach and his long-time collaborator and lyricist Hal David. Morris has developed new choreography for more than a dozen of their legendary hits, which will be performed by the 14 dancers in a show featuring costume design by Isaac Mizrahi and lighting design by Nicole Pearce.
Iverson created new arrangements for the standards “I Say A Little Prayer,” “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head,” “Walk On By,” “Always Something There To Remind Me,” and “What The World Needs Now.” Broadway veteran Marcy Harriell (In The Heights, Rent) is the evening’s guest lead vocalist.
“Always engaging melodically, always surprising rhythmically, with a touch of melancholy and a striving hop, Bacharach’s marvelous music calls out for dancing,” Morris says in the show’s official release.
“There is a rich range of emotion, point of view, and dynamics in Bacharach’s (and lyricist Hal David’s) amazing compositions, both the very familiar and the relatively obscure.”
Bacharach praises Morris as “an ideal collaborator [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.”
Performances are Wednesday, Oct. 26, through Friday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 29, at 2 and 8 p.m. Eisenhower Theater. Tickets are $29 to $119. Visit www.kennedy-center.org or call 202-467-4600.
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