Seattle-born, internationally acclaimed choreographer Mark Morris has lost none of his sass since the creation of his masterpiece 20 years ago. Just ask him about L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, which debuted in 1988 at Belgiums’s Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie and receives an anniversary staging this month at the Paramount Theatre. “It was hell,” he says of the piece’s inception. “It was very difficult and arduous, and I was miserable most of the time I was working on it. You don’t have to be happy to make happy work.” L’Allegro, set to Handel’s oratorio on John Milton’s poetry, overflows with Morris’s mirth and irreverence—somersaults, human pyramids, rambunctious rump slaps—and embodies a pastoral joy for 90 minutes. William Blake’s watercolors of the Milton poems inspired the costumes on the 24 company dancers and further brighten the tableau. Conductor Gerard Schwarz will be on hand with the Seattle Symphony as well as two sopranos, a tenor, and a baritone. It’s an expansive, expensive arrangement, yes, but Morris eschews recorded accompaniment. “That’s not a performance,” he scoffs. “That’s not the music for me. The fact that in the richest fucking country in the world we don’t have enough money for the arts doesn’t mean that I have to give in to that. I won’t participate in mediocrity. I’m old-fashioned enough to strive for excellence.” Keep Morris content and he’ll keep the excellence coming—his Mozart Dances are on the schedule for Seattle in May 2009. “I’m very happy that we’re establishing this relationship with the Paramount Theatre,” he acknowledges. Ah, happiness at last. —Steve Wiecking

MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP AND SEATTLE SYMPHONY
May 16–18
Fri & Sat at 8; Sun at 2
$35–$75

Paramount Theatre,
911 Pine St
206-292-2787
www.theparamount.com