Mark Morris Dance Group‘s The Hard Nut made its U.S. debut at Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1991. Thirty-three years later, Mark Morris’s reinterpretation of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker is back at BAM, featuring live music by the MMDG Music Ensemble directed by Colin Fowler, and Brooklyn Music School and Brooklyn Technical High School’s The Hard Nut Singers. Morris’s unique blend of sassy humor, satire, and homage to Peter Tchaikovsky and George Balanchine’s great classic hasn’t aged a bit.
Brandon Randolph as the Housekeeper, Joe Bowie as Dr. Stahlbaum, Elisa Clark as Mrs. Stahlbaum
Brandon Randolph as the Housekeeper, Billy Smith as Drosselmeier, Karlie Budge as Louise, Christina Sahaida as Fritz, and Mica Bernas as Marie
Morris stays pretty much with the original story. The family is having a big Christmas party. There’s lots of dancing and festivities. At last Uncle Drosselmeier arrives with a huge box containing life-size dolls, the children receive their own dolls, they fight, and the little girl’s doll is broken.
The Cast
Domingo Estrada, Jr. as the Nutcracker
Eventually, the little girl goes to sleep, and the rest of the story becomes a delightful and sometimes disconcerting phantasmagoria, complete with a Mouse King, Nutcracker Prince, Sugar Plum Fairy, Snow Maidens and a whole array of dancers from Spain, Arabia, China, France, Denmark and Russia. When the parents arrive to restore order, we realize it all may have been just a dream.
The Cast
Miriam Gittens (front) and Noah Vinson (back)
But from The Hard Nut’s opening scene, when we see the children, Marie (Mica Bernas) Fritz (Christina Sahaida) and Louise (Karlie Budge) fighting, playing and glued to the TV set, we know The Nutcracker will never be the same again. In fact, there are a few major changes.
Deepa Liegel as the Rat Queen
Joe Bowie as the King, Brandon Randolph as the Nurse, Elisa Clark as the Queen, Billy Smith as Drosselmeier, and Deepa Liegel as the Rat Queen
There is no Sugar Plum Fairy, and Marie performs all her dances. The Hard Nut includes E.T.A. Hoffmann’s original tale-within-a-tale that explains how Drosselmeier’s nephew was turned into a Nutcracker. And the cast is a gender-bending ensemble of talent that includes Brandan Randolph as the shoulder shaking, leg flipping Housekeeper/Nurse; Elisa Clark as Mrs. Stahlbaum, who steals our hearts as she seems to dance on air, anxiously preparing for the big Christmas party; and Billy Smith as the debonair, eye-patched Drosselmeier; as well as G.I. Joe Soldiers, a Barbie Doll and a Robot.
Billy Smith as Drosselmeier
Karlie Budge as Princess Pirlipat (center), Mica Bernas as Marie, Brandon Randolph as Nurse, Elisa Clark as the Queen, Joe Bowie as the King, and Billy Smith as Drosselmeier
The ballet has many laugh out loud moments: the bratty kids fighting; the guests enjoying themselves dancing in a variety of styles, including, disco, waltz, and even the hokey-pokey; the overworked Housekeeper on pointe as her arms are piled high with the guests’ coats; and one of the French dancers carrying a baguette.
Elisa Clark as Mrs. Stahlbaum with The Cast
And there are moments of sheer beauty: the waltz of the Snowflakes, which has the dancers daintily tossing snow about the stage, and Young Drosselmeier (Domingo Estrada, Jr.) and Drosselmeier’s incredible pas de deux at the end of Act I. Martin Pakledinaz’s flamboyant costumes and Adrianne Lobel’s set, which combines geometric precision with fanciful extravagance, enhance the dream.
Mica Bernas as Marie
The Cast
Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to figure out exactly what’s happening onstage, especially if you’re not familiar with the original story or ballet. But you’ll be having such a good time you won’t really mind at all.
Mica Bernas as Marie and Domingo Estrada, Jr. as Young Drosselmeier
photos by Julieta Cervantes
The Hard Nut
Mark Morris Dance Group
part of BAM Next Wave Festival, 2024
Brooklyn Academy of Music, Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Ave.
1 hour 50 minutes with one intermission
ends on December 22, 2024
for tickets, visit BAM
