Press Notes
September 26, 2008
LOVE LIVES ON!
By: MMDG
MARK MORRIS’ ROMEO & JULIET, ON MOTIFS OF SHAKESPEARE TOURS TO LONDON AND ACROSS THE US
Praise for Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare…
“Morris tweaks the scenario ingeniously.”
-Village Voice
“Leave it to Mark Morris to create a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ danced to Prokofiev that features no balcony, no crypt, no pointe work, plenty of passion and violence, yet no final tragedy.”
-Bloomberg
The Mark Morris Dance Group’s (MMDG) new production of Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare, will tour to London and across the US this season. Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare, choreographed by Mark Morris, will be performed by the Mark Morris Dance Group and various orchestras led by Stefan Asbury.
Commissioning the $1.3 million production in association with The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College and the Mark Morris Dance Group are: barbicanbite08, London; Cal Performances, Berkeley; Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Millennium Park, Chicago; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; Virginia Arts Festival; and additional, individual commissioners.
Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare performance dates are:
November 5-8, 2008
barbicanbite08, Barbican Centre with the London Symphony Orchestra (London, UK)
March 13-14, 2009
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts with Sinfonia da Camera (Urbana, IL)
May 8-10, 2009
Virginia Arts Festival, Chrysler Hall with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra (Norfolk, VA)
May 14-17, 2009
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Rose Theater with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (New York, NY)
September 2009 (exact dates TBA)
Harris Theater for Music and Dance at Millennium Park with Chicago Sinfonietta (Chicago, IL)
MetLife Foundation is the Official Tour Sponsor of the Mark Morris Dance Group.
This historic event features a new, fully-staged dance production by Morris set to Prokofiev’s original score and scenario by Soviet dramatist Sergey Radlov, based on exclusive documents unearthed in Moscow by Princeton University musicologist and Bard Scholar in Residence Simon Morrison, and represents the first time Prokofiev’s music for Romeo and Juliet is being performed according to the composer’s instructions.
The production features two alternating casts dancing the lead roles: MMDG dancers Maile Okamura and Noah Vinson; and Rita Donahue and David Leventhal. The roles of the lovers’ parents, the Montagues and Capulets, will be performed by former MMDG dancers Teri Weksler and Guillermo Resto, Megan Williams and Shawn Gannon respectively. The pivotal male roles of Mercutio and Tybalt are danced by female company members Amber Darragh and Julie Worden.
Romeo & Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare features scenic design by Allen Moyer, costume design by Martin Pakledinaz, and lighting design by James F. Ingalls, all of whom are longtime collaborators with Mark Morris.
A website dedicated to the production is online at www.lovelives.net.
