Let it snow, let it snow in Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana. Picture: Snow Johan Persson
THE storm-swelled waters were beginning to recede but the barrier was still in place on the Kings Arms’ door on King’s Staith on Friday night: a weather hazard of the York riverside down the flooded centuries.
That same night – after Wednesday and Thursday’s performances fell foul to cast illness – it was snowing in Havana in Carlos Acosta’s relocation of The Nutcracker to modern-day Cuba.
Snow in Havana? Official records state the only time snow fell in Cuba was in February 1900 in the Sierra Maestra mountain range around Pico Turquino. Not even climate change might change that, but the power of theatrical imagination can.
Cuban-British dance luminary Carlos Acosta CBE, former Royal Ballet favourite, now director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, also directs Acosta Danza in his homeland, where he trained at the National Ballet School of Havana.
His Cuban company is on tour in the dreek UK from October 31 to February 11, turning up the heat on Tchaikovsky/Petipa/Ivanov’s Russian ballet, premiered at the the Mariinsky Theatre, in St Petersburg, Russia, in December 1892.
The story, characters, Christmas setting and transition from house to frosted winter wonderland remain the same, but from set and video designer Nina Dunn’s opening projections of Havana’s Spanish-colonial architecture to Angelo Alberto’s costume designs, from the lush green vegetation to composer and arranger Papa Gavilondo Peon’s Cuban re-boot of Tchaikovsky’s score, Acosta’s Nutcracker evokes Cuba as much as rum, cigars, vintage 1950s’ cars and the Buena Vista Social Club.
For all that Havana detail – even the flamboyantly moustached mask when the Nutcracker comes alive – Acosta’s choreography is essentially classical ballet, rather than modern, making it the least Cuban transition in the show.
Alexander Varona’s mysterious, magical toymaker Drosselmeyer is the ringmaster, conducting Clara’s wide-eyed journey with sleight of hand and a toreador’s sense of dramatics, as familiar scenes play out in new ways, maybe restricted by the Grand Opera House’s narrow stage, but with humour in toys’ movements and enchantment too.
However, the spectacle (aside from the snowfall scene) and drama fall short of Northern Ballet’s celebrated Christmas staple at Leeds Grand Theatre and Act Two loses momentum.
A scene from Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Tristram Kenton
CUBAN dance luminary Carlos Acosta’s Havana reinvention of The Nutcracker tops Charles Hutchinson’s latest selection of cultural highlights.
Dance show of the week: Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana, Grand Opera House, York, Friday, 7.30pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
CAST illness has put paid to tonight and tomorrow’s performances, but dance superstar Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana will still turn up the heat in his modern Cuban twist on the snow-dusted 1892 Russian festive ballet on Friday and Saturday. Built on Cuban composer Pepe Gavilondo’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s score, Acosta moves the celebration of joy, life, love and family to modern-day Havana.
More than 20 dancers from Acosta’s Cuban 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. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Tim Delap’s John Middleton and Kara Tointon’s Constance Middleton in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Constant Wife. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic; set and co-costume designer Anna Fleischle; co-costume designer Cat Fuller
Play of the week: Royal Shakespeare Company in The Constant Wife, York Theatre Royal,until Saturday , 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
SET in 1927, The Constant Wife finds Constance as a very unhappy woman. “Nonsense,” says her mother, who insists “she eats well, sleeps well, dresses well and she’s losing weight. No woman can be unhappy in those circumstances”.
Played by Kara Tointon, she is the perfect wife and mother, but her husband is equally devoted to his mistress, who just happens to be her best friend. Tamara Harvey directs the new adaptation by Home, I’m Darling playwright and Rivals television series writer Laura Wade. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Mishmash’s Ruby’s Worry: Easing worries at NCEM, York
Family show of the week: Mishmash: Ruby’s Worry, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, Saturday, 11.30am and 2.30pm
RUBY had always been happy, perfectly happy, until one day she discovered a worry. The more she tries to rid herself of that worry, the more it grows and grows. Eventually she meets a boy who has a worry too. Together they discover that everyone has worries, and that if you talk about them, they never hang around for long! Mishmash’s Ruby’s Worry is told through live music, song, puppetry and physical theatre, taking the audience on a delightful musical adventure. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Talent showcase of the week: HAC Studio Bar Open Mic Jan 2026, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, 7.30pm
THIS social evening in Helmsley Arts Centre’s Studio Bar offers the opportunity to hear Ryedale musicians and artists perform. The bar will be open serving beer from Helmsley Brewery and Brass Castle Brewery, an assortment of gins, wines from Helmsley Wines and more. There is no need to book to listen or participate, just turn up.
Mountaineer Simon Yates, of Touching The Void fame, has sold out his My Mountain Life talk on Friday at 7.30pm. Box office for returns only: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Femme Fatale Faerytales: Telling Mary, Mary’s contrary tale
A homecoming, a haunting, a holy rebellion: Femme Fatale Faerytales present Mary, Mary, Fossgate Social, Fossgate, York, February 1 and 2, 8pm (doors 7pm)
MARY, Mary quite contrary, wouldn’t you like to know how her garden grows? Step into the fairytale world of Femme Fatale Faerytales as Sasha Elizabeth Parker unveils a dark, lyrical, feminist re-telling of an age-old classic. Part confession, part ritual, part bedtime story for grown-ups, Mary, Mary invites you to meet the woman behind the nursery rhyme in all her wild, untamed, contrary glory.
In her York debut, expect enchanting storytelling, poetic prophecy and a subversive twist on the tales you thought you knew on two intimate, atmospheric nights in one of York’s cult favourite haunts. Box office: wegottickets.com.
Packing in the acts for PAC Comedy Club line-up at Pocklington Arts Centre
Comedy gig of the week: PAC Comedy Club, Pocklington Arts Centre, February 5, 8pm
RICH Wilson, winner of the New Zealand Comedy Festival Best International Act award, tops the PAC Comedy Club bill next Thursday. He has performed at all the major UK comedy clubs, as well in New York and Las Vegas and at the Perth Fringe, Melbourne International Festival and Edinburgh Fringe.
Supporting Wilson will be Jonny Awsum, who shot to fame on Britain’s Got Talent with his high-energy musical comedy, and Yorkshireman Pete Selwood, who specialises in observational material with killer punchlines, introduced by surrealist compere and BBC New Comedian of the Year regional finalist Elaine Robertson. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
The Yorkshire Gypsy Swing Collective: In full swing at Milton Rooms, Malton
Jazz gig of the week: The Yorkshire Gypsy Swing Collective, Milton Rooms, Malton, February 7, doors, 7.30pm
THIS gypsy jazz supergroup with musicians from all around Yorkshire plays music inspired by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli of the Quintette du Hot Club de France.
The collective of Lewis Kilvington and Martin Chung, guitars, James Munroe, double bass, Derek Magee, violin, and Christine Pickard, clarinet, remains true to Django and Stephane’s spirit while pushing the genre of gypsy jazz forward into a modern sphere. Expect fast licks, burning ballads and even some Latin-inspired pieces. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Liz Foster: Exhibiting at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, from February 12
Exhibition launch: Liz Foster, Deep Among The Grasses, Rise:@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, February 12 to April 10
YORK artist Liz Foster’s new series of abstract paintings, Deep Among The Grasses, invites you into rich, expansive imagined spaces where she explores memory, landscape and the childhood feeling of being immersed in wild places.
Full of colour, feeling and atmosphere, this body of work is being shown together for the first time. Everyone is welcome at the 6pm to 9pm preview on February 12 when Leeds-born painter, teacher and mentor Liz will be in attendance.
Super Furry Animals: Playing first shows in ten years in 2026, including Live At York Museum Gardens
Gig announcement of the week: Live At York Museum Gardens present Super Furry Animals, York Museum Gardens, July 11
FUTURESOUND completes the line-up for its third Live At York Museum Gardens season with Welsh art-rock icons Super Furry Animals, celebrating more than 30 years together with multicolour hits and off-piste deep cuts, lovingly handpicked from nine albums.
Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Cian Ciarán, Dafydd Ieuanand Guto Pryce are returning to the concert platform in 2026 for the first time in ten years. Joining them in York will be a quartet of special guests, unconventional kindred spirit Baxter Dury, compatriot indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, fast-rising Nottingham alt-country group Divorce and the Welsh Music Prize-nominated woozy, Sixties-inspired psychedelia Pys Melyn.
Futuresound Group project manager Rachel Hill says:“We’re thrilled to announce Super Furry Animals as the final headliner for our third Live at York Museum Gardens series. None of it would be possible without the collaboration, trust and support of the team at York Museums Trust and being able to put together such an incredible line up for the summer makes us excited for the future of our partnership.”
Kara Tointon as Constance Middleton in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Constant Wife. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic; set and co-costume designer Anna Fleischle and co-costume designer Cat Fuller
LAURA Wade’s new adaptation of The Constant Wife for the RSC leads off Charles Hutchinson’s latest selection of cultural highlights.
Play of the week: Royal Shakespeare Company in The Constant Wife, York Theatre Royal,January 26 to 31, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
SET in 1927, The Constant Wife finds Constance as a very unhappy woman. “Nonsense,” says her mother, who insists “she eats well, sleeps well, dresses well and she’s losing weight. No woman can be unhappy in those circumstances”.
Played by Kara Tointon, she is the perfect wife and mother, but her husband is equally devoted to his mistress, who just happens to be her best friend. Tamara Harvey directs the new adaptation by Home, I’m Darling playwright and Rivals television series writer Laura Wade. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Aesthetica Art Prize winner Tobi Onabolu’s Danse Macabre, on show at York Art Gallery
Last chance to see: Aesthetica Art Prize and Future Tense: Art in the Age of Transformation, York Art Gallery, today and tomorrow, 10am to 5pm
YORK arts movers and shakers Aesthetica present two landmark exhibitions, the 2025 Aesthetica Art Prize and Future Tense: Art in the Age of Transformation, featuring large-scale immersive installations by prize alumni Liz West and Squidsoup.
On show among work by 25 shortlisted entries are main prize winner, London artist-filmmaker Tobi Onabolu’s exploration of spirituality, mental health and the human psyche, Danse Macabre, and Emerging Prize winner Sam Metz’s bright yellow structures in Porosity, reflecting his sensory experience of the Humber Estuary.
Squidsoup’s Submergence immerses audiences in an ocean of 8,000 responsive LED lights, blurring the line between digital and physical space, while Liz West’s Our Spectral Vision surrounds visitors with a radiant spectrum of colour in a sensory encounter. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk/tickets.
Ceramicist Emily Stubbs, left, and seascapes artist Carolyn Coles showcase their new work in The Sky’s The Limit at Pyramid Gallery, alongside Karen Fawcett’s bird sculptures
Exhibition launch of the week: Carolyn Coles, Emily Stubbs and Karen Fawcett, The Sky’s The Limit, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, today until mid-March
SOUTH Bank Studios artist Carolyn Coles and PICA Studios ceramicist Emily Stubbs will be on hand from 11.30am to 2.30pm at today’s opening of The Sky’s The Limit, their joint exhibition with wildlife sculptor Karen Fawcett.
Like Carolyn, Emily has been selected to take part in York Open Studios 2026 on April 18 & 19 and April 25 & 26. Look out too for work by Pyramid Gallery’s Jeweller of the Month, Kate Rhodes, from Hebden Bridge. Gallery opening hours are: 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.
Anna Hale: Killer punchlines, musical flair and spiky resilience in Control Freak at The Crescent on Sunday
Comedy gig of the week: Anna Hale: Control Freak, The Crescent, York, Sunday, 7.30pm
ANNA Hale, comedian, singer-songwriter and unapologetic control freak, likes to write the jokes and the songs, plan the lighting cues and even sell the tickets for her gigs. When life spins out of control, however, can one perfectionist keep the show together, and, crucially, not let anyone else have a go?
Find out when encountering the killer punchlines, musical flair and spiky resilience of the 2024 Musical Comedy Awards Audience Favourite winner’s debut tour show. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Glenn Moore: So many Moore jokes at The Crescent on Tuesday
Show title of the week: Glenn Moore: Please Sir, Glenn I Have Some Moore, The Crescent, York, January 27, 7.30pm (doors 7pm)
EDINBURGH Comedy Award nominee Glenn Moore has written too many jokes again, so expect a whirlwind of punchlines from the Croydon stand-up and presenter on Tuesday. Here comes more and more of Moore after appearances on Live At The Apollo, Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week, 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, The News Quiz, Just A Minute and his own BBC Radio 4 series, Glenn Moore’s Almanac. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Snow and frost in Cuba: Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana brings heat and ice to the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Johan Persson
Dance show of the week: Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana, Grand Opera House, York, now January 30 and 31, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee
UPDATE 27/1/2025: Cast illness has put paid to January 28 and 29’s performances.
DANCE superstar Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana turns up the heat in his modern Cuban twist on the snow-dusted 1892 Russian festive ballet. Built on Cuban composer Pepe Gavilondo’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s score, Acosta moves the celebration of joy, life, love and family to modern-day Havana.
More than 20 dancers from Acosta’s Cuban 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. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Mike Joyce: Tales from his drumming days for The Smiths at Pocklington Arts Centre
On the beat: Mike Joyce, The Drums: My Life In The Smiths, Pocklington Arts Centre, January 28, 7.30pm
DRUMMER Mike Joyce has been asked numerous times, “What was it like being in The Smiths?”. “That’s one hell of a question to answer!” he says. Answer it, he does, however, both in his 2025 memoir and now in his touring show The Drums: My Life In The Smiths.
To reflect on being stationed behind singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr from 1982 to 1987, Joyce will be interviewed by Guardian music journalist Dave Simpson, who lives near York. Audience members can put their questions to Joyce too. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
The poster for Country Roads’ celebration of Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers et al at York Barbican
Country celebration of the week: Country Roads, York Barbican, January 30, 7.30pm
COUNTRY Roads invites you to a celebration of country superstar royalty featuring such hits as 9 To 5, The Gambler, I Walk The Line, Ring Of Fire, King Of The Road, Crazy, Rhinestone Cowboy, Jolene, Dance The Night Away, Walkin’ After Midnight and many, many more as the stars of fellow tribute show Islands In The Stream return in this new production. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Mishmash’s delightful musical adventure Ruby’s Worry, easing worries at the NCEM
Family show of the week: Mishmash: Ruby’s Worry, National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate, York, January 31, 11.30am and 2.30pm
RUBY had always been happy, perfectly happy, until one day she discovered a worry. The more she tries to rid herself of that worry, the more it grows and grows. Eventually she meets a boy who has a worry too. Together they discover that everyone has worries, and that if you talk about them, they never hang around for long! Mishmash’s Ruby’s Worry is told through live music, song, puppetry and physical theatre, taking the audience on a delightful musical adventure. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk.
Snow and frost envelop Cuba as Carlos Acosta reinvents Nutcracker in Havana. Picture: Johan Persson
UPDATE 27/1/2025. CAST illness has put paid to January 28 and 29’s performances. January 30 and 31 performances will go ahead.
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.
A scene from Carlos Acosta’s Nutcracker In Havana. Picture: Tristram Kenton
“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, now January 30 and 31, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. 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
