Under Mark Morris, Handel Oratorio Becomes a Visual Feast

Under Mark Morris, Handel Oratorio Becomes a Visual Feast

Agreed: Mirth, with thee I mean to live.
The chorus sings these words at the exultant finish of Mark Morris’s “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato,” which transforms the Handel oratorio into a visual feast with the happiest dancing you could hope to see. And as you watch the dancers join hands and circle the Kennedy Center Opera House stage, the whole cast whirling in a spin-cycle of physical joy, living by that sentiment feels entirely possible.