Overview

It’s the Nutcracker, with a twist:

“You’ve never seen a Nutcracker like this” writes the Huffington Post. Set to Tchaikovsky’s beloved music (with live orchestra), The Hard Nut lovingly channels the warm spirit of this holiday tradition into the swinging 70’s.

It’s a fun (and funny) reimagining from the original straightlaced 1890s, from the internationally renowned Mark Morris Dance Group: you’ll see dancing GI Joes, whimsical costumes, and a Waltz of the Snowflakes like no other. Tchaikovsky’s complete original score, performed live by the Detroit Opera Orchestra, playfully preserves the warm spirit of an essential holiday tradition.

It’s the perfect family holiday experience – that takes everything you love about the Nutcracker and makes it even more fun (and adds one of the world’s most talented dance companies).

“No other treatment of this famous must so excites its audience”

– The New York Times

 Family Fun Events Prior to the Sunday Matinee Performance

The Sunday matinee performance will feature family fun events such as craftmaking with Arts and Scraps, pictures with Santa and The Nutcracker, ice cream samples from Treat Dreams, and more! Starting at 1PM until curtain at 2:30PM.

Program

PRESS

“The Hard Nut is not a deconstruction of “The Nutcracker.” Nor is it a parody. It is instead a thoroughly American ballet, so refreshingly contemporary that it suddenly makes everything that came before it look outdated.” – The Times Union

“Morris has an ability and an agility in getting inside of a musical score and mapping the notes onto the dancers’ bodies.”… “It is a boldly perfected masterpiece, full of comic-book hilarity. Morris clearly knows how to make people laugh, and he knows how to be entertaining without being facile.” – TheaterWeek

“It seemed naughtier and more enchanting than ever…This is a ‘Hard Nut’ worth cracking.” – New York Post

“…this work is profoundly faithful to the essential elements of The Nutcracker: its joy, and its keen sense of the fantastical and the wondrous.” – Dance Enthusiast

“You’ve Never Seen A ‘Nutcracker’ Quite Like This Before” – The Huffington Post

“The party scene is a raucous delight, but there are moments of incandescent beauty, too, including the snow scene, in which dancers throw glittery stuff; and the tender, romantic pas de deux.” – The New York Times

“Morris’ secret is that whatever else he is doing, he never forgets the music and he never forgets that the most important thing is to express joy.” – Bachtrack