Nutcracker Sweeties is Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington’s big band attack on Tchaikovsky. It portrays Broadway and America in the 1940s; full of humour, irony, commentary, swing and blues. The cast, dressed in an array of glamorous Jasper Conran costumes, includes pom-pom girls, drum majorettes, sailors, GIs and Candy Kane. David Bintley’s choreography is a catwalk of jazz styles. With its glamour-puss clothes and flashing neon set, Nutcracker Sweeties is imaginative, funny and visually irresistible.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
You don’t just see an Ailey performance, you feel it. Experience this electrifying modern dance program that includes four audience favorites: Wayne McGregor’s sumptuous “Chroma” with a score by Jack White and Joby Talbot; Ronald K. Brown’s powerful “Grace”, with music by Duke Ellington, Roy Davis Jr., and Fela Kuti; Robert Battle’s humorous, high-flying “Takademe”; and Alvin Ailey’s beloved “Revelations” – “one of the great works of the human spirit” (New York Times) – that will rock your soul.