Boston Ballet offers a new look for Christmas classic ‘The Nutcracker’

William Brangham:

An annual holiday tradition gets a new look and helps change how audiences see the famous "Nutcracker" ballet.

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown explains how one ballet company is making this long-awaited leap.

It's part of our ongoing Race Matters coverage, as well as our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Jeffrey Brown:

On a recent night at the Boston Opera House, audiences braved New England's chill for a beloved Christmas tradition presented by the Boston Ballet.

"The Nutcracker," with music by Tchaikovsky, now with choreography by Mikko Nissinen, the company's artistic director. The Boston Ballet has performed the holiday classic every year for nearly six decades, including virtually in 2020, when performances across the country were forced online by COVID.

But this season marks a first.

Daniel R. Durrett, Soloist, Boston Ballet:

When they presented the new head, it was just so special. I felt seen.

Jeffrey Brown:

Daniel Durrett, one of several dancers cast as the titular nutcracker, is dancing in a costume that matches his skin tone.

Daniel R. Durrett:

I have just grown up doing so many different versions of "The Nutcracker," and I never saw myself as the Nutcracker because it was a certain look to it. No matter the version, it just kind of was always the same color.

Jeffrey Brown:

The wooden toy that later transforms into a dashing prince is traditionally white. Durrett made his debut in the role last year.

Daniel R. Durrett:

I think, last year, it was a bit of a disconnect when I took off the Nutcracker head.

Jeffrey Brown:

Artistic director Nissinen says he had started to feel the same way.

Mikko Nissinen, Artistic Director, Boston Ballet:

We have some amazing Black dancers doing the lead role, and it felt like, hmm, that's a little strange.

Jeffrey Brown:

So he commissioned a new nutcracker head for Durrett to wear this season.

Mikko Nissinen:

You have to think about these things differently and ask yourself questions. And we're coming up with slightly different answers today than the everybody did 50 years ago or 20 years ago. And I'm super happy with the end result. I bet this is the future for our industry.

Jeffrey Brown:

That, says Nissinen, fits in with the larger mission of Boston Ballet, one of the most diverse companies in the country.

Mikko Nissinen:

To be a ballet company of the future, which is what we aim, is to be truly relevant for today's people. I don't want us to be a museum or a church, but a living theater for today's people.

Jeffrey Brown:

It's part of a broader movement in the art form. "The Nutcracker" was first staged in 1892 by Russia's Mariinsky Ballet. The New York City Ballet, which premiered George Balanchine's iconic version of "The Nutcracker" in 1954, made history five years ago when 11-year-old Charlotte Nebres performed as its first Black Marie, in many adaptations of the story known as Clara, the heroine of the story.

And last year, it cast two Black dancers in the role of Dewdrop for the first time. This year, the Oklahoma City Ballet has also taken a new approach to the role of the fairy. Audiences can watch both male and female dancers lead the "Waltz of the Flowers."

In 2021, partly spurred by an increase in anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic, several companies reworked the tea scene in the second act to remove what many saw as offensive Asian stereotypes.

Mikko Nissinen:

What did we think about the rest of the world in 1890? What do we think about our world today? We know so much more. And the depiction of the Chinese dance, for example, it was much more caricature than reality.

Jeffrey Brown:

Boston Ballet was one of the first companies to sign a pledge to remove so-called yellowface from its stage. In his version of "The Nutcracker," Nissinen worked with a Chinese choreographer to develop a new take on the scene, inspired by traditional Chinese ribbon dancing.

Ming Min Hui is Boston Ballet's executive director.

Ming Min Hui, Executive Director, Boston Ballet:

As a Chinese-American, it's been really personally significant to me to work for a company that understands that what it means to represent different cultures means really actually engaging with and understanding the underlying culture that's being represented on stage.

Jeffrey Brown:

As with ballet companies everywhere, "The Nutcracker" is Boston's biggest moneymaker of the year.

Ming Min Hui:

Over 100,000 people see it every single year. And so this is the asset that we take then incredibly seriously when it comes to how to make it inclusive, how to ensure that no one is boxed out of that experience.

Jeffrey Brown:

That includes through partnerships with local organizations, like the Boston Arts Academy, the city's only public performing arts high school.

This year, students, including 18-year-old Maura Cardoso Goncalves, attended a rehearsal, as well as a performance.

Maura Cardoso Goncalves, Student, Boston Arts Academy:

It's so magical to be here to see it. It's so inspiring as well to come and here and sit here. It makes you get goose bumps sometimes, a lot of times.

Jeffrey Brown:

Fifteen-year-old Marcus Colimon, a contemporary and ballet dancer, was excited to see Daniel Durrett's new costume.

Marcus Colimon, Student, Boston Arts Academy:

I never thought about that at all until I saw. I was like, wait, that — that's — that Nutcracker's Black. I was like, he looks like me.

Jeffrey Brown:

For Durrett himself, that's the point.

Daniel R. Durrett:

To have a head that looks like me, I'm hoping that inspires other children that look like me, so they can know that they can do it.

The first show that I did, I was just, like, very, very emotional, because I just, like, never saw a head that color. It felt perfect, it felt right, and it felt more, I think, believable for the story as well.

Jeffrey Brown:

A story continuing to evolve.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.