Nutty holiday classic is back at BAM
TBy Bill Roundy his show keeps dancers on
their toes!
The beloved ballet “The
Hard Nut” — a joyfully strange
take on “The Nutcracker” —
will leap back into the Brooklyn
Academy of Music on Dec. 14.
The Mark Morris Dance Company
debuted the show at BAM in 1992
and has performed it somewhere
every holiday season since — but
the show never gets old, says one
of its stars.
“The show is always different,
every single night,” said Lauren
Grant, who has played the leading
role of Marie for 20 years. “It’s
finely choreographed, but there is
room to make changes as you go,
especially in the party scene. ...
You’re always getting a fresh show,
but it’ll always be the show you
know and love.”
Creator and choreographer
Mark Morris used Tchaikovsky’s
classic music, but set his show in
an indeterminate 1970s-ish era,
opening at a swinging suburban
house party. He also restored a
then-little known scene from the
ballet’s original inspiration “The
Nutcracker and the Mouse King”
by E.T.A. Hoffman, in which a
Rat Queen promises to restore
beauty to a princess if a young
man can crack the “hard nut” with
his teeth.
Morris said that he wanted to
restore some of the original tale’s
energy to the ballet.
“I wanted it to be really interesting
and fun and scary and delightful,
like the Hoffmann story,” said
Morris, from his company’s office
in Fort Greene.
Morris also plays a role in
his show, playing party host Dr.
Stahlbaum and, in a later scene, the
King. He dreads the makeup and
wig, but said still enjoys working
with his fellow dancers each night.
“It’s fun, and I’m very close
with the gentleman who plays Mrs.
Stahlbaum John Heginbotham,”
said Morris. “There’s a lot of spontaneity,
I love that.”
COURIER L 62 IFE, DEC. 7-13, 2018 24-7
The show was seen as subversive
when it debuted, with a shocked
New York Times review noting in a
headline that it had “men in tutus,”
but it has since become a Brooklyn
tradition.
“It’s stood the test of time,” said
Morris. “People who saw it as kids
are bringing their own children —
I love that. It’s really becoming a
family event.”
“The Hard Nut” at BAM
Howard Gilman 30 Lafayette Ave.
at Ashland Place in Fort Greene,
(718) 636–4100, www.bam.org.
Dec. 14–23; Thu–Fri at 7:30 pm;
Sat at 2 pm and 7:30 pm; Sun at 3
pm. $25–$125.
By Bill Roundy Brooklyn loves this old chestnut!
In addition to “The Hard
Nut” at the Brooklyn Academy of
Music, the Borough of Mouse Kings
will host another four versions of
“The Nutcracker” before Christmas.
Nut cracks you!
Catch this elaborate “Great
Russian Nutcracker” from the
Moscow Ballet. This over-the-top
version from Tchaikovsky’s home
country features painted sets, a scene
with the “Dove of Peace,” and it adds
some Muscovite touches, including
dancing Russian Nesting Dolls and
Snow Maidens.
“Great Russian Nutcracker” at
Kings Theatre (1027 Flatbush Ave.
between Tilden Avenue and Duryea
Place in Flatbush, www.nutcracker.
com). Dec. 8 at 2 pm and 7 pm.
$45–$125.
Candy Ukraine
The National Ballet Theater of
Odessa brings “The Nutcracker” to
Manhattan Beach. This full-scale
production features 40 Ukrainian
ballet stars in glorious costumes,
on its first-ever tour of the United
States.
On Stage at Kingsborough 2001
Oriental Blvd. at Oxford Street in
Manhattan Beach, (718) 368–5596,
www.onstageatkingsborough.org.
Dec. 14 at 7 pm. $34–$39.
Flatbush fairies
Brooklyn Ballet’s annual
“Brooklyn Nutcracker,” which adds
flex, hip-hop, and world dance traditions
to its baller ballet performances,
moves to the spacious Kings
Theatre this year, one week after the
“Great Russian Nutrcracker.”
“Brooklyn Nutcracker” at Kings
Theatre (1027 Flatbush Ave. in
Flatbush, www.brooklynballet.org).
Dec. 14 at 7 pm. $25–$110).
Join the show!
The fourth wall falls down in
a new, immersive version of “The
Nutcracker” from Alden Moves
Dance Theater. The show uses traditional
music and moves, but will
recruit audience members to become
guests at Clara’s party, or courtiers in
the Land of Sweets.
“The Nutcracker” at East
Midwood Jewish Center Grand
Ballroom (1625 Ocean Ave. between
Avenues K and L in Midwood, www.
aldenmovesbk.com/nutcracker).
Dec. 16 at noon and 5 pm. $30 ($25
in advance, $20 kids).
TBy Julianne McShane hey are making their
voices heard.
Muslim residents
of Brooklyn have spoken —
and you can hear their words
starting this week, when the
Brooklyn Historical Society
launches its newest oral history
project. “Muslims in Brooklyn”
features interviews with 50
Muslims who discuss their lives
in the borough. The recordings
highlight the impact that followers
of Islam have had on Kings
County, and will ensure that
their memories are preserved
for history, said the project’s
director.
“We thought it would be
an important project to show
Muslims have a long history
in the U.S. and in Brooklyn —
Muslims have played an integral
role in shaping life in New York
City and in Brooklyn, and they
have also been shaped by life in
Brooklyn,” said Zaheer Ali, the
Society’s oral historian. “For
our institution, we made a really
important statement about the
centrality and the necessity of
having the history of Muslims
included in our archives.”
Ali spent a year working on
the project, recording the stories
of Muslims aged 24 to 74. He
pounded the pavement to find
subjects to interview, drawing
on community organizations
and newspaper articles to find
notable local figures, including
activist Debbie Almontaser
and scholar and activist Su-Ad
Abdul Khabeer.
The borough is filled with
Muslim history, said Ali: North
America’s oldest functioning
mosque , opened in 1931,
is in Williamsburg; Bedford-
Stuyvesant is home to Masjid
Khalifah, a mosque founded
by Malcolm X; and Atlantic
Avenue became a hub for Arab
business owners, who opened
restaurants, bookstores, and
shops there.
Many of the 90-minute to
two-hour conversations did not
focus on the narrators’ Muslim
identities, but instead highlight
the common aspects of our
shared humanity, said Ali.
“Islam is not the box that
they fit in, but the box that they
stand on — it is an important
foundation for many for our narrators,
but it is not the complete
summation of their experiences,”
he said. “They talk about childhood,
they talk about growing
up, they talk about their experiences
in school, activism, family
life. What you see is that
the experiences of Muslims in
Brooklyn are like the experiences
of many people in Brooklyn.
That’s one of the amazing parts
of that collection; it establishes
spaces for people to connect
across perceived differences.”
The Brooklyn Historical
Society plans to roll out an
accompanying art exhibition,
discussion series, and elementary
school curriculum next
year. The recordings will also
be available online, said Ali,
who hopes that listeners come
to the collection eager to learn
more about faiths and cultures
different from their own.
“We hope that people come
to this collection not satisfied
that they have learned all they
need to learn, but inspired to
learn more,” he said.
“Muslims in Brooklyn” at
the Brooklyn Historical Society
(128 Pierrepont St. at Clinton
Street in Brooklyn Heights,
www.brooklynhistory.org/projects/
muslimsinbrooklyn). Open
Wed–Sun; noon–5 pm. $10.
Going nuts: Dr. Stahlbaum (left, played by choreographer Mark Morris) panics as
the Rat King and his minions disrupt his party in “The Hard Nut,” which returns to
the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the seventh time on Dec. 14. Julieta Cervantes
He’s listening: Historian Zaheer Ali coordinated “Muslims in Brooklyn,” a
year-long oral history initiative featuring recorded conversations with 50
Muslim residents of Kings County. Maggie Shannon
The lady in red: The Alden Moves production
of “The Nutcracker” on Dec. 16
will bring the audience in on the action.
Matt Carr
Speaking up
‘HARD’ RETURN
Mixed nuts!
Muslims tell their stories at
Brooklyn Historical Society
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