DANCE superstar Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana turns up the heat at the Grand Opera House, York, next week in his modern Cuban twist on the snow-dusted 1892 Russian festive ballet.
Giving a new spin to the Tchaikovsky/Petipa/Ivanov classic, built on Cuban composer Pepe Gavilondo’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s score, Acosta moves the celebration of joy, life, love and family to the Cuban capital, where he was born – full name Carlos Yunior Acosta Quesada – on June 2 1973 and trained with the National School of Ballet.
More than 20 dancers from Acosta’s Havana-based company Acosta Danza perform the familiar story of a young girl transported to a magic world, but one newly incorporating the culture, history and music of his home country.
Acosta invites you to join Clara in her humble home in Havana as she prepares to celebrate Christmas with her family. The beer cans are on the tree and Cuba is suitably hot. When Clara is gifted a Nutcracker doll, she embarks on the journey of a lifetime, to defeat the Rat King and enter into the world of the Sugar Plum Fairy accompanied by her Nutcracker Prince, as Cuba collides with the Land of Sweets, bringing snow to Havana.
Now artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet too after retiring from a globe-travelling dance career that took in 17 years with the Royal Ballet in London, as well as English National Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Houston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, Acosta has choreographed Carmen and Don Quixote previously and deemed The Nutcracker ripe for re-invention next.
Nutcracker In Havana choreographer Carlos Acosta
“I have performed so many versions of The Nutcracker and I think that putting it in Havana creates a production which is totally different from any other production out there,” he says. “This is not going to be a European feel, where you are in a Victorian mansion and everything is period; this is much more Cuba now,” he says.
“When we started to work on the show, I started to play in my mind that we could re-work the score to incorporate Cuban rhythms. That was going to be a significant change because the audience will hear Nutcracker and Tchaikovsky in a completely different light with conga rhythms, guaracha, son – the music of Havana.”
The Nutcracker is set amid the excitement and anticipation of a family party on Christmas Eve, but as a child growing up in Havana, Acosta was unable to take part in such festivities. “I wanted to give the Cuban people the Christmas they never had,” he says. “We started to celebrate Christmas from the coming to the island of Pope John Paul II in 1998 because before that Christmas was banned.”
Acosta’s production touches on the Cuban diaspora, the thousands of people who fled the island into exile. “The magician, the Drosselmeyer character, is the uncle who left to Miami 30 years ago and has now returned to Havana with lots of presents and then he brings this kind of magic with him,” he says.
Co-produced by Norwich Theatre and Acosta Danza’s production partner Valid Productions, Nutcracker In Havana aims to draw new audiences to dance. “The show has been created to tour beyond just the largest theatres to audiences in places that don’t normally get the benefit of having a Nutcracker,” says Acosta.
“I hope everyone will come. I hope this production pulls from different sectors of the population, from the Latin world, the classical world, the contemporary world, because it’s a melting pot of everything.
“There’s a lot of humour as well. It is different but it still does what The Nutcracker is supposed to do, which is fun and warm; it’s just a show about family and friends.”
Acosta’s production brings together video projection and set design by Nina Dunn, whose credits include Bonnie And Clyde, 9 to 5 The Musical and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Don Quixote, complemented by costumes by Angelo Alberto (Goyo Montero’s Imponderable and Raul Reinoso’s Satori with Acosta Danza and lighting by Andrew Exeter(Oti Mabuse: I Am Here, The Full Monty UK tour and Johannes Radebe: House of JoJo).
Norwich Theatre chief executive officer Stephen Crocker says: “At its heart, it is The Nutcracker story that you can expect with all of the magic and joy that goes with that. It is balletic at its core and it’s pushing the boundaries of ballet by bringing that Cuban feel into it.
“I’ve joked it’s the only Nutcracker I know where the corps de ballet becomes a conga line. It has a sense of fun and it’s also a spectacle – and theatre needs spectacle.
“It’s an intensely personal show to Carlos and it has been joyous to help him realise that. It’s a special moment for somebody whose career has been so ensconced in ballet and who has danced so many Nutcrackers in his life, and with him coming from Cuba there is real heart to this show.”
Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana with Acosta Danza, Grand Opera House, York, January 28 to 31, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The poster for Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana, on tour at Grand Opera House, York, from January 28 to 31