CREATED in 2017 to mark the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Mark Morris's production of Pepperland pays tribute to it without tipping into nostalgia.

The choreographer uses five songs from the album, along with Penny Lane, as the starting point and they’re given a jazzy rearrangement by Ethan Iverson, who also scores five new numbers. Performed by a live seven-piece band, they accentuate their undercurrent of classical music.

The reimagining of When I’m Sixty-Four is especially effective, with the number disintegrating to create a disarming, somewhat inebriated feel as the brightly coloured ensemble dance in front of a wave of crumpled silver foil. Elizabeth Kurtzman’s costumes draw on Swinging London, with their clean mod lines replicated in the choreography.

It’s a humorous piece, with the performers light-footed and joyful as they sway and skip around the stage but it also captures the tension between group and individual, with dancers hooking arms and propping one another up as they stand back to back before splintering off into soloists orbiting the core.

Sequences such as Penny Lane take a more literal approach, with dancers miming the lyrics as they shelter to avoid a rain rainstorm, while Magna Carta goes a step further as baritone Clinton Curtis narrates the names of some of the individuals on the album cover.

They make an entrance and strike a mannequin pose — Albert Einstein with his tongue hanging out and Marilyn Monroe holding down her skirt — before running offstage screaming at the appearance of the band.

Though the concept runs somewhat out of steam in the second half, overall this is an inventive and warm-hearted Sgt Pepper tribute.

Tours until June 15, details: pepperland.dance