The Hard Nut

The Hard Nut is an adaptation of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker choreographed by Mark Morris. It took its inspiration from the comic artist Charles Burns. That art is personal and deeply instilled with archetypal concepts of guilt, childhood, adolescent sexuality, and poignant, nostalgic portrayals of post-war America.

He enlisted a team of collaborators to create a world not unlike that of Burns’ world, where stories take comic book clichés and rearrange them into disturbing yet funny patterns.

Morris turned to Adrianne Lobel to create sets that would take Hoffmann's tale out of the traditional German setting and into Burns’ graphic, black and white view of the world. With these immense sets and scrims, lighting designer James F. Ingalls created a dark world within retro 1960s suburbia and costume designer Martin Pakledinaz created costumes that helped bring to life Burns’ world, described as being "at the juncture of fiction and memory, of cheap thrills and horror." The last of 10 pieces Mark Morris created during his time as Director of Dance at the National Opera House of Belgium, the piece was his most ambitious work to date.

The Hard Nut premiered on January 12, 1991 at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, just short of the 100th anniversary of the creation of Tchaikovsky's classic score. Shortly after the premiere, MMDG returned to the United States, having finished their three-year residency at the Monnaie. But the Monnaie seemed the most fitting stage to film the production so the company returned six months later with film crew in hand for encore performances in Belgium's national opera house. Summary --Act One--

The Ballet opens with Marie, her older sister Louise, and her younger brother Fritz watching television in the parlor. We immediatly see the dysfunction in the siblins as they fight and push eachother around. The family's African American Housekeeper bars Marie from entering the living room until the Stahlbaum's Christmas Eve Party begins.
 Mrs.Stahlbaum,the children's mother,comes to have the children get ready. Here, we see that Fritz is a violent spoiled brat, and Louise is a typical shallow teenager. The scrim then opens to a black and white living room complete with a plastic white Christmas tree. Dr.Stahlbaum rolls out a cart with cocktail drinks. THe geusts arrive for the party. The party guests are 1970's swingers and hipsters who get drunk, fight, and make love. As the party starts, we see Marie is left out of the fun until Drosseleier, a family friend arrives. He is shown as a suave man of the town who arrives with two large packages. The toys here are a life size Barbie doll and a robot that Fritz uses to terrorize the party goers. Drosselmeier then brings out  a special toy, the Nutcracker. Marie adores it until Fritz breaks the toy. 
 The party then ends as the children go to bed(while Louise makes one last attempt to make love with a drunken party guest). In the middle of the night, Marie comes in to see her nutcracker. Fritz spies on her, but she then responds by punching him in the stomach. Suddenly, giant anomatronic rats zoom through the stage around Marie. as she passes out, two people called the Changers strip the stage of it's decor. Suddenly Maries awakes and sees that she has shrunken down to the size of a toy. The rats return full sized, and engage in a war with Fritz's G.I.Joes. The Nutcracker and the Three headed Rat king(Who bears resembelence to ELvis Presley). They fight, and Marie helps by killing the Rat King with her slipper. She then faints.
  The Nutcracker then transforms into a handsome young man. He then dances a pas deux with his Uncle, Drosselmeier. The traditonal Waltz of the snow flakes is danced by both Men and Women in tutus and white helmets as they throw white snow into the air. Drosselmieir tucks Marie in and walks home.
    =Act Two=
  Marie lays down on the family couch as she recovers from the battle. The Housekeeper takes care of her until Drosselmeier arrives. He then tells Marie the story of the Hard Nut. Drosselmeier then takes the couch offstage as we see the story unfold. A nurse(who we see is the Housekeeper) rolls in a carriage with a baby princess name Pirlipat. The King and Queen( Who resemble Marie's Parents) notice the evil Rat Queen in their castle. The Rat Queen then Sneaks into Pirlipat's carriage and bites her, making her hideous.The Rat Queen says to cure the princess,a man must bite open The Magic Nut and give ot to Pirlipat. 
  The King, Queen, and nurse order Drosselmeier to find the magic nut to cure Pirlipat. We are treated to the usual national dances as Drosselmeier searches the world for the nut. After fifteen years of searching, he finally finds the nut and returns home. The now grown Pirlipat is shown to wear thick wire glasses, has a pig snout, bleached blonde hair and buck teeth. Two suitors who resemble neardy Bussinessmen fail to crack the nut. Finally, Drosselmeier's nephew bites the nut and it opens. However, as the Nephew steps back he crushes the Rat Queen and kills her putting the curse on him. As Pirlipat(revealed to be Louise) becomes Beautiful again, the Nephew turns ugly and the ungratful princess rejects him.
 Marie then enters the story and declares her love for the Nephew. As Pirlipat walks off empty handed, Marie's mother leads the (male and female) Plowers into a dance to celebrate Marie's womanhood. The Act Two Pas deux has the entire company dancing together in celebration. Marie and her boyfriend then go off to live a new life together in a fantatic toy land.
  The show ends with Fritz and Louise watching television again. This time, they notice Marie with her Boyfriend smiling and waving at them. Mrs. Stahlbaum comes in and smiles at her daughter's happiness. The Housekeeper then shuts off the television and sends the two siblings to bed, but not before noticing Marie and the Nutcracker, which she dismisses.
==Television airings==

In the US the film aired on PBS stations in 1991 as part of the Great Performances series.

It was chosen the favorite by viewer votes in 2007, 2008, and 2009 in Ovation TV's annual "Battle of the Nutcrackers".. Ovation did not include it in the 2010 competition.

Commercial releases

The Hard Nut was released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1992. It was released on DVD in 2007. The DVD extras include "The Arabian Dance", segment which had been cut from the film due to time constraints, and Mark Morris's reflections on the original and ongoing productions of his version of the ballet.

Cross-Dressing

The Hard nut is also known for some of the roles being cross dressed. Prime Examples include Mrs.Stahlbaum, the Housekeeper, and half of the snowflakes and flowers are danced by men, while Friz and the Rat King being danced by women.

External links

• Mark Morris Dance Group website
• The Hard Nut at IMDb