“It seemed naughtier and more enchanting than ever…This is a ‘Hard Nut’ worth cracking.” – New York Post Morris clearly knows how to make people laugh, and he knows how to be entertaining without being facile.” – TheaterWeek “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. It is instead a thoroughly American ballet, so refreshingly contemporary that it suddenly makes everything that came before it look outdated.” – The Times Union “The Hard Nut is not a deconstruction of “The Nutcracker.” Nor is it a parody. “No other treatment of this famous must so excites its audience” 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).

Tchaikovsky’s complete original score, performed live by the Detroit Opera Orchestra, playfully preserves the warm spirit of an essential holiday tradition.

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. 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. “You’ve never seen a Nutcracker like this” writes the Huffington Post.

Detroit opera house nutcracker