Never one to shy away from a provocative concept (think “Hard Nut”), Mark Morris tackled the Beatles’ groundbreaking concept album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band” with his ballet “Pepperland.” Conceived as part of Liverpool, England’s year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the release the iconic album, this colorful adaptation was presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, one of many underwriters of it’s creation. Ethan Iverson of Bad Plus fame wrote the score, which combines new arrangements of some favorites from the album and original incidental music inspired by Sgt. P. Saturated colors everywhere in the costumes and lighting, a live seven piece band with vocalist and Morris’s exuberant choreographic interpretation based on his feelings about the groundbreaking recording 50 years on, made for a crowd pleasing evening of effervescence.
