“Layla and Majnun”: An Azerbaijani dance opera for the ages

“Layla and Majnun”: An Azerbaijani dance opera for the ages

“Layla and Majnun,” a classic Azerbaijani tale of young lovers and meddling parents, has been compared to “Romeo and Juliet.” In Mark Morris Dance Group’s production, which opened at the Kennedy Center Opera House on Thursday, the story is given lusciously sensuous form, with gentle, insistent music from the Silkroad Ensemble and two celebrated Azerbaijani singers, as well as the physical charge of Morris’s superb dancers.