When the holidays roll around for another year, many Chicago families’ traditions include classics like lunch at the Walnut Room, a stroll through Lincoln Park’s ZooLights, and attending a performance of the beloved Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker.
When it comes to The Nutcracker, there are boundless adaptations to choose from each year, from the classical Tchaikovsky version produced by the Joffrey Ballet, a Nutcracker on Ice (produced each year to showcase the talents of student skaters at the Robert Crown Community Center in Evanston), and more fringey, adult options, such as The Buttcracker burlesque at Greenhouse Theater Center. Indeed, Clara’s tour through the Land of the Sweets is a beloved, enduring story that inspires fresh takes each year to the delight of audiences everywhere.
Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker
Through 12/30: Sat 12/23 8 PM, Sun 12/24 2 PM, Wed 12/27 2 PM, Thu 12/28 7 PM, Fri-Sat 12/29-12/30 2 PM; Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells, 312-341-2300, auditoriumtheatre.org, $52-$100
This year, a new entry in the Chicago Nutcracker oeuvre is Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker, now playing at the Auditorium Theatre through December 30. Starting with the Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn 1960 musical adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, this original production’s concept and libretto is the creation of Jessica Swan.
This version of The Nutcracker reimagines the story for 1930s Harlem. Main character Lena (played by Alicia Mae Holloway) starts her journey as the nonconformist daughter of a high-society Black family. As in the original narrative, Lena is given a nutcracker by her eccentric Uncle Dross (Kenneth Darryl Ard). The Nutcracker then comes to life in Lena’s dream, and the pair embark on a journey through the rich backdrop of Manhattan with a wild assortment of characters. It’s a journey into the golden age of Harlem nightlife that feels at once nostalgic and fresh and exciting.
This jazzy reimagining pulls the audience into its world from the curtain’s rise. The swinging overture is played by a live jazz band set on a bandstand edged with LED lights that change color to match the shifting scenes. Lighting (designed by Christopher Annas-Lee) is used significantly in this work, with sweeping washes, gradients, and gobos to set each scene distinct from the one before.
The dance here, created by several choreographers working with director/choreographer Joshua Bergasse, is spectacular. Mixing jazz, ballet, swing, ballroom, jive, and many other styles (Lindy Hop and popping and locking, to name a few) brings glamorous and compelling elements to the spectacle. Watching the performers weave these styles together seamlessly is thrilling. Translating the traditional characters and movements in the ballet into fresh ones avoids the dated orientalizing trap of the original.
The recurring characters of Sweet Pea and the Jazz Singer/Angel (played by Shavey Brown and Jennifer Jade Ledesna, respectively) sweep us into this world with songs and scatting numbers, including the infectious “Take the A Train.” (John Clayton and Larry Blank created the orchestrations and arrangements.) The music takes the Ellington/Strayhorn score and adds original pieces, fully reimagining the ballet as a swingin’, upbeat, jazzy libretto. At the same time, show music and hot jazz transports the audience to a smoky, vintage club in Harlem in the 1930s. It’s the golden age of Lindy Hop, as steeped in aesthetics of excess by way of the Apollo.
Standout numbers include Lena’s recurring encounters with “hooligans” who use a popping/pumping traveling movement to cross the stage, and the main party scene, which offers a beautiful tableaux of ballroom dancing and gorgeous sequined evening gowns. Sugar Rum Cherry (Larissa Gerszke), a “cat-heiress cat butler,” also stands out with her slinky balletic movements. She stays on through the second act, reclining on a chaise lounge to watch the rest of the proceedings. Cookie (Tatiana Nuñez) rolls out in a gilded cage, playing her birdlike character en pointe and hiding behind her large wings—until they are removed and she dances into her full embodiment. Brenda L. Braxton lends a burlesque flair to her portrayal of Mother Sugar, an Eartha Kitt–like Cheetah, complete with a striptease-esque reveal as the cat butler pulls off her full skirt to reveal a caged hoop and then a lacy unitard. Most numbers during the second act dream sequence are magnificent in concept and execution.
Other thrilling solo and group dances included Tootie Toot (Scott Weber), a German “Sheprador” and his pack of dogs; the Chinoiserie, a pair of entwining acrobatic goldfish (played by Ayaka Kamei and Olivia Tang-Mifsud); Floreadores the grasshopper (Natascha Mair); and Sugar-Lu (Nayara Lopes), the cat sister of Sugar Rum Cherry, who captivates the Nutcracker as they fall in love. The final dance by Lena combines elements from all the characters that she’s met, creating a language that’s uniquely hers.
Equally stunning is the costuming. Designed by David Kaley, it twists the traditional into original and captivating visions. The hybridization of ballet, 1930s showgirl, burlesque, ballroom, and Broadway-style designs helps cement the mise-en-scene.
Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker is a delight and a fun, innovative, and refreshing take on the traditional classic. While the narrative elements can sometimes be slightly confusing, that’s not unusual for The Nutcracker, and the synopsis in the program provided some needed context and added in detail that was lost in translation. The multicultural cast, the fusion of dance forms, and the elegant production values make a lovely evening of holiday spectacle enjoyable for the whole family. Audiences leave feeling excited, inspired, and swept away to a parallel universe of contemporary and vintage jazz, sparkle, and highly accomplished song and dance.
