The document provides a summary and analysis of Mark Morris's ballet "The Hard Nut", which is a darker adaptation of The Nutcracker. It summarizes the key plot points of Morris's version, which sticks closer to the original darker E.T.A. Hoffmann story. It also analyzes how Morris modernizes and subverts traditional interpretations by setting it in the 1960s-70s and incorporating pop culture elements and commentary on old versus new world views. The analysis praises how Morris maintains the central innocent and noble character of Marie to guide the audience through the interpretation of love within the story.

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2. THE HARD NUT
Based on Nutcracker and Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffmann
Music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Mark Morris Dance Group
Mark Morris, Choreography
Adrianne Lobel, Set Design
Martin Pakledinaz, Costume Design
James F. Ingalls, Lighting Design
Production based on the work of Charles Burns
A production of Thirteen/WNET with NVC ARTS
in association with RTP, Portugal and YLE, Finland
From the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Belgium
Original broadcast: Great Performances:
Dance in America on PBS
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3. CAST
Marie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clarice Marshall
Fritz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marianne Moore
Louise/Princess Pirlipat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tina Fehlandt
Dr. Stahlbaum/King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Alterman
Mrs. Stahlbaum/Queen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Wing Healey
Housekeeper/Nurse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kraig Patterson
Drosselmeier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rob Besserer
Nutcracker/Young Drosselmeier . . . . . . . . . . Jean-Guillaume Weis
Barbie Doll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ruth Davidson
Robot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gene Reddick
Party Guests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joe Bowie, Penny Hutchinson, Mark Morris,
MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP Mireille Radwan-Dana, Guillermo Resto, Keith Sabado,
Katharina Bader Rob Besserer Alyce Bochette Joe Bowie Derrick Brown Derek Clifford William Wagner, Holly Williams, Megan Williams
Ruth Davidson Tina Fehlandt Peter Wing Healey Penny Hutchinson Dan Joyce Changers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Francky Arras, Sam Louwyck
Rat King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June Omura
Nathaniel Lee Olivia Maridjan-Koop Clarice Marshall Marianne Moore Rachel Murray
Rat Soldiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katharina Bader, Alyce Bochette, Olivia Maridjan-Koop,
Mark Nimkoff June Omura Kraig Patterson Mireille Radwan-Dana Gene Reddick
Rachel Murray, Amy Schwartz, Jordana Toback
Guillermo Resto Keith Sabado Amy Schwartz Jordana Toback William Wagner G.I. Joe Soldiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Derek Clifford, Dan Joyce, Nathaniel Lee, Mark Nimkoff, Gene Reddick
Jean-Guillaume Weiss Holly Williams Megan Williams Snow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katharina Bader, Alyce Bochette, Joe Bowie, Derrick Brown,
Derek Clifford, Ruth Davidson, Tina Fehlandt, Penny Hutchinson,
Dan Joyce, Nathaniel Lee, Olivia Maridjan-Koop,
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS Marianne Moore, Rachel Murray, Mark Nimkoff,
OF THE THEATRE ROYAL DE LA MONNAIE
June Omura, Kraig Patterson, Mireille Radwan-Dana,
Sylvain Cambreling, Musical Director Guillermo Resto, Keith Sabado, William Wagner,
Holly Williams, Megan Williams
Rat Queen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rachel Murray
Spanish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mireille Radwan-Dana, Guillermo Resto
Chinese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Olivia Maridjan-Koop, June Omura, Keith Sabado
Russian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katharina Bader, Derrick Brown, Ruth Davidson, Penny Hutchinson,
Marianne Moore, Holly Williams
French . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alyce Bochette, Joe Bowie, William Wagner, Megan Williams
Suitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Joyce, Mark Nimkoff
Dentist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nathaniel Lee
Flowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katharina Bader, Alyce Bochette, Joe Bowie, Ruth Davidson,
Penny Hutchinson, Olivia Maridjan-Koop, June Omura,
Mireille Radwan-Dana, Gene Reddick, Guillermo Resto,
Keith Sabado, Amy Schwartz, Jordana Toback, Holly Williams
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4. The Hard Nut, 2005 (l-r) Kraig Patterson, Craig Biesecker, Guillermo Resto, Julie Worden, Lauren Grant and June Omura © Peter DaSilva
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5. THE HARD NUT (87:03)
ACT I ACT II
Overture/Mark Morris Introduces Act I (2:28) Intermission/Mark Morris Introduces Act II (1:47)
The Children Watch TV (2:40) Drosselmeier Begins to Tell Marie the Story of the Hard Nut (2:11)
Party Preparations (1:25) The Curse (5:30)
Arrival of the Guests (6:23) Spanish Dance (1:22)
Gift Giving (2:48) Chinese Dance (1:04)
The Party Continues (1:25) Russian Dance (1:20)
Drosselmeier Presents the Nutcracker (2:09) French Dance (2:22)
Marie Dances with the Nutcracker/Guests Sing Christmas Carols (1:56) Drosselmeier Finds the Nut (:54)
Guests Dance the Bump (1:45) The Curse Is Lifted (1:41)
The Party Concludes (2:16) Waltz of the Flowers (7:00)
Marie Returns to the Living Room (1:12) The World Celebrates the Love of Marie and Young Drosselmeier (4:54)
Invasion of the Rats (1:13) Marie and Young Drosselmeier Dance Together (2:49)
The Transformation (3:04) The Gala (1:25)
The Battle (3:04) The Lovers Unite (3:29)
The Nutcracker Transformed into Young Drosselmeier (1:14) Louise and Fritz Are Sent to Bed (1:19)
Duet of Drosselmeier and Young Drosselmeier (2:53) Bows and Credits (3:25)
Waltz of the Snowflakes (6:15)
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6. THE HARD NUT by Mark Morris
The Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels is Belgium’s Royal Opera House. I worked As Act II begins, Marie is still recovering from the battle, and Drosselmeier tells her the
with my company there for three years and one of the dances I made up was a version story of the Hard Nut:
of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker that I call The Hard Nut. In many Nutcrackers the story
Once upon a time there was a king and a queen. They look a lot like Marie’s parents,
is presented in a charming, adorable way because that’s what adults think children
and they had a beautiful baby daughter, Princess Pirlipat. But the queen of the rats
will like. But most kids would rather see something scary and that’s what the story of
sneaks into the baby’s carriage and bites her, placing a curse on her that makes her
The Nutcracker was in the original E.T.A. Hoffmann tale.
hideously ugly. The only way to remove the curse, the rat queen says, is to find the
The Hard Nut sticks close to the Hoffmann story, with the scary parts left in. The idea magic nut, which a young man must crack with his teeth. The king demands Drosselmeier
for the production came from Charles Burns, a great horror-comic artist. Burns’s search for the nut. Drosselmeier travels all over the world looking for it. Finally he gives
world is not the cozy 19th-century of most Nutcrackers; it’s the world of the 1960s and up and goes home and—voila!—he finds it there.
’70s, the time when he and I were growing up. The people in this ballet don’t wear frock
The big day comes. Several young men try to crack the nut and fail. Then Drosselmeier’s
coats, they wear bell bottoms, and everything is flat and bold and clear like a comic book.
handsome, young nephew tries, and he succeeds, but in the process he steps on the
As the curtain opens, little Marie, her older sister Louise, and her younger brother Fritz rat queen and kills her, with the result that a curse falls on him. Just as Pirlipat is
are waiting for the start of the family Christmas party. The guests arrive including becoming beautiful again the nephew becomes ugly like a nutcracker, and Pirlipat wants
Drosselmeier, a family friend, who brings toys for the children: a Barbie doll, a robot, no part of him.
and a nutcracker. Marie loves the nutcracker, but Fritz breaks it. After the party, around
At this point Marie takes matters into her own hands and stops the story. She offers her
midnight, Marie sneaks down to the living room to check on her nutcracker. Suddenly
love to Drosselmeier’s nephew. To celebrate Marie’s budding womanhood her mother
everything in the room becomes giant and there’s a war between the rats, led by their
leads the plant world in the “Waltz of the Flowers.” At the end, Marie and her new boyfriend
king, and Fritz’s G.I. Joes, led by the nutcracker. Marie kills the Rat King with her slipper
dance together and everybody joins in.
and so the nutcracker wins and is transformed into a beautiful young man.
This is a love story between two people but it’s also about the love that’s already in the
Meanwhile, Marie has fainted. Drosselmeier returns to tuck her in, then walks home
world. In other words, you can search and search for the thing you want, and then you
through a snowstorm. In most Nutcrackers, the “Waltz of the Snowflakes” is danced
find it waiting for you back home. You just didn’t recognize it before. You had to grow up.
by women. In this ballet, nature means everyone, women and men.
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7. The Hard Nut, 2005 © Peter DaSilva
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8. SWEET & SOUR: MORRIS’S HARD NUT by Joan Acocella
For years, Mark Morris had a reputation as a bad-boy artist, and an excellent example is the national dances are again pop updates. In the French number, one of the dancers carries a
The Hard Nut, his Nutcracker. The first Nutcracker ballet was premiered in St. Petersburg baguette, another a whip.
in 1892, with music by Tchaikovsky and choreography by Marius Petipa. There have been
Throughout, Old World quaintness and Old World assumptions are replaced by the things of
many Nutcrackers since, but most of them, like the original, present us with an ideal
the New World: the pushy, the democratic, the cheerfully crass. Eyes bug out; things go pow.
world. Act I takes place in a snug, upper-bourgeois 19th-century German household—the
The tone is something like Mad magazine. To a certain extent, The Hard Nut, like so much
home of Dr. and Mrs. Stahlbaum—where, on Christmas Eve, the daughter of the family
other art in our time, seems to be saying that the Old World is dead.
is given a nutcracker and her brother breaks it. In Act II, the girl and her nutcracker, now
transformed into a dashing young man, journey to a fairy-tale Candyland, to taste a thousand And to a large extent, it is saying the opposite: that the ideal meanings of old art, including
delights, which usually take the form of national dances—an Arabian dance for coffee, The Nutcracker, are still very much alive—indeed, the center of our existence. For in the
a Chinese dance for tea, et cetera. middle of all the flash and pop of The Hard Nut stands its heroine, Marie, the Stahlbaum’s
middle child, innocent and noble. The role of Marie is a serious conception. (And it is played
But the story on which the original Nutcracker was based, E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Nutcracker
as such by Clarice Marshall, who, though she is 41, manages unsentimentally to make
and Mouse King, was far darker than this. In many ways, it’s a horror story. Morris,
herself into a child.) Marie is truly excited and terrified by the big, ugly party, and she is
in making his ballet, decided to return to that story, so he hired a horror-comics artist,
truly in love with her nutcracker, and steadfast in her love, even when, in a twist of Morris’s
Charles Burns, to help him conceptualize The Hard Nut. Burns is best known for his “Big
complicated libretto, the nutcracker is changed back from a handsome young man into an
Baby” series—titles include Curse of the Moleman, Teen Plague, and Blood Club—
ugly toy. Marie is our guide to the meanings of The Hard Nut: how everyone searches for love
in which a fetal-looking child, Big Baby, makes his way through a universe crawling with
and how love must often be wrested out of ugliness.
green monsters and skin-curdling diseases. Burns’s world is not Candyland, and what he
and Morris came up with for The Hard Nut, while it is not a horror story, is not snug either. So The Hard Nut sets two emotional currents, irony and sincerity, against each other, and
this is typical of Morris. Of all the leading qualities of his work—its musicality, its structural
Gone is the quaint parlor of yesteryear. The curtain opens on a rather frightful suburban
clarity, its danciness, its mixture of storytelling and abstraction—none is more constant than
living room: white vinyl couch, white plastic Christmas tree from the mall. Mrs. Stahlbaum
his use of divided emotions: nastiness and cheerfulness, pathos and dryness, horror and
is a big, fussy, hyper-femme redhead. (She is played by a man, Peter Wing Healey.) As for
hilarity. Through much of The Hard Nut we laugh, but as we look back on the ballet, there is
her children, the eldest, Louise, is a horny teenager in go-go boots; the youngest, Fritz, is
a great deal of sweetness there, and not just as regards Marie. The snowflakes are funny, a
a loathsome little boy who runs around terrorizing people with a plastic submachine gun.
joke about ballet, but at the same time they are not a joke about anything, but just something
The Christmas Eve guests are a pop nightmare: bouffant hairdos, push-’em-up bras, hip-
in themselves: a child’s dream of winter—of ice cream and snowballs and things dancing
huggers. To Tchaikovsky’s party dances they do the twist, the jerk, and a very dirty version
in the sky. Likewise the Christmas Eve guests. They’re pretty bad, but they’re also lovable: a
of the bump. In between, they drink, fight, make out, pass out. Everything is deliciously vulgar.
bunch of people in their party clothes having a big, vulgar good time. At the end of the ballet,
And it stays that way. In the battle of the mice and the toy soldiers, the mice are rats; the Morris brings them back onstage, together with the rats and everybody else, in the last big
soldiers, G.I. Joes. In the “Waltz of the Snowflakes,” the snowflakes are not women in long dance, for while Marie’s finding her true love is the main story, everyone had a part in it. As Morris
white tutus. They are men and women, all costumed the same—hats that look like the has said, “They all helped.”
top of a Dairy Queen, puffy little tutus that make everybody’s rear end look huge. In Act II,
Joan Acocella is the dance critic for The New Yorker.
This essay was adapted from her book Mark Morris, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. © 1993 by Joan Acocella.
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9. PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY was born in 1840 and began his career as a civil member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2006, Morris received the
servant. In 1862, he gave up his job and enrolled at the St. Petersburg conservatory. New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Mayor’s Award for Arts & Culture and
He was offered the Professorship of Harmony at the newly opened Moscow conservatory a WQXR Gramophone Special Recognition Award. He is the subject of a biography by
in 1866. After the success of his first piano concerto he began a correspondence with Joan Acocella (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and Marlowe & Company published a volume
Nadezhda von Meck, a wealthy widow, whose financial support enabled him to devote of photographs and critical essays entitled Mark Morris’ L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il
himself to composition. They remained correspondents until a misunderstanding in 1890 Moderato: A Celebration. In 2007, he received the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance
ended their relationship, but they never actually met. Tchaikovsky had a disastrous marriage Festival lifetime achievement award.
in 1877, possibly in an attempt to conceal his homosexuality; a separation followed an
MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP was formed in 1980 and gave its first concert that year in
attempted suicide after only 11 weeks of marriage. Despite his subsequent depressions
New York City. The company’s touring schedule steadily expanded to include cities both in the
he managed to produce his most successful opera, Eugene Onegin (1877–78), his Fourth
U.S. and in Europe, and in 1986 it made its first national television program for the PBS
Symphony (1878), and his Violin Concerto (1878) during this period. In 1881, he gave up
series Dance in America. In 1988, MMDG was invited to become the national dance company
teaching at the conservatory and for the next seven years was deeply involved in composition.
of Belgium, and spent three years in residence at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in
He contracted cholera after imprudently drinking unboiled water and died in St. Petersburg,
Brussels. The company returned to the United States in 1991 as one of the world’s leading
soon after the first performance of his Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique), in 1893.
dance companies, performing across the U.S. and at major international festivals. It has
MARK MORRIS was born on August 29, 1956, in Seattle, Washington, where he studied maintained and strengthened its ties to several cities around the world, most notably its
as a young man with Verla Flowers and Perry Brunson. In the early years of his career, west coast home, Cal Performances in Berkeley, CA. It appears regularly in Boston, MA;
he performed with Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, Laura Dean, Eliot Feld, and the Koleda Urbana, IL; Fairfax, VA; Seattle, WA; and at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, MA.
Balkan Dance Ensemble. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group in 1980, and has MMDG made its debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival in 2002 and at the Tanglewood Music
since created more than 120 works for the company. From 1988–91, he was Director Festival in 2003 and has since been invited to both festivals annually. The company’s London
of Dance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the national opera house of seasons have garnered two Laurence Olivier Awards. MMDG is noted for its commitment to
Belgium. Among the works created during his tenure were three evening-length dances: live music, a feature of every performance on its full international touring schedule since
The Hard Nut; L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato; and Dido and Aeneas. In 1990, he 1996. The company collaborates with leading orchestras, opera companies, and musicians
founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Morris is also much in including cellist Yo-Yo Ma in the Emmy Award-winning film Falling Down Stairs (1997); Indian
demand as a ballet choreographer. He has created six works for the San Francisco Ballet composer Zakir Hussain, Mr. Ma, and jazz pianist Ethan Iverson in Kolam (2002); The Bad
since 1994 and received commissions from American Ballet Theatre and the Boston Plus in Violet Cavern (2004); pianists Emanuel Ax and Yoko Nozaki for Mozart Dances
Ballet, among others. His work is also in the repertory of the Pacific Northwest Ballet, (2006); and with the English National Opera in Four Saints in Three Acts (2000) and King
Dutch National Ballet, New Zealand Ballet, Houston Ballet, English National Ballet, Arthur (2006), among others. MMDG’s film and television projects also include Dido and
and The Royal Ballet. Morris is noted for his musicality and has been described as Aeneas, The Hard Nut, and two documentaries for the U.K.’s South Bank Show. In fall 2001,
“undeviating in his devotion to music.” He has worked extensively in opera, directing MMDG opened the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, NY, the company’s first permanent
and choreographing productions for The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, English headquarters in the U.S., housing rehearsal space for the dance community, outreach
National Opera, and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Morris was named a Fellow of the programs for local children, as well as a school offering dance classes to students of all ages.
MacArthur Foundation in 1991, is the recipient of eight honorary doctorates, and is a For more information, visit www.mmdg.org.
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10. ADRIANNE LOBEL (set design) first worked with Mark Morris in 1986 on Nixon in
China. Since then she has designed sets for the Mark Morris Dance Group’s productions
of L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, The Hard Nut, The Marriage of Figaro, Orfeo
ed Euridice, Platée, and King Arthur. Her work for theater, ballet, and opera has
been seen all over the world.
MARTIN PAKLEDINAZ (costume design) works in theater, opera, and dance, on Broadway,
across the United States, and throughout Europe. He has collaborated with Mark Morris
for several years, on such works as Mozart Dances, The Marriage of Figaro, V, and Sylvia.
JAMES F. INGALLS (lighting design) has worked with Mark Morris on several productions
including L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, The Hard Nut, Dido and Aeneas,
The Marriage of Figaro, Platée, Sylvia, King Arthur, Mozart Dances, and Orfeo ed
Euridice. His work for theater, ballet, and opera has been seen all over the world.
CHARLES BURNS (production concept) was born in Washington, DC in 1955 and currently
lives in Philadelphia with his wife, painter Susan Moore, and his two daughters, Ava
and Rachel. His illustrations and comics have been widely published in Europe and the
United States in magazines including Raw, Time, The New York Times Magazine, and
Rolling Stone. His books include Skin Deep (Penguin Books, 1992), Hard-Boiled Defective
Stories (Pantheon, 1988) and Facetasm (Gates of Heck, 1992).
The Hard Nut, 2005 (l-r) Guillermo Resto, Kraig Patterson, John Heginbotham, and Craig Biesecker © Peter DaSilva
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