Dance superstar Carlos Acosta’s new production Nutcracker in Havana takes the ever-popular festive ballet and moves the story to the Cuban capital. A celebration of joy, life, love and family, the show takes the Tchaikovsky classic and gives it a new spin.
Performed by more than 20 dancers from Carlos’ Havana-based company Acosta Danza, the production retains the classic story of a young girl transported to a magic world while incorporating the culture, history and music of Carlos’ home country of Cuba.
A world-renowned dancer who has performed with companies across the globe including 17 years with The Royal Ballet, Carlos has choreographed previous productions including Carmen and Don Quixote and felt The Nutcracker was ideal for re-invention.
“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,” Carlos 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.”
The Nutcracker is set amid a family party on Christmas Eve and yet as a child growing up in Havana Carlos was unable to take part in such festivities.
“I wanted to give the Cuban people the Christmas they never had,” says Carlos. “We started to celebrate Christmas from the coming to the island of Pope John Paul II in 1998 because before that Christmas was banned.”
And the production also 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.”
The ballet, which opens at Norwich Theatre before touring the UK into the New Year, also has new orchestration of the classic Tchaikovsky score by Cuban composer Pepe Gavilondo.
“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,” explains Carlos. “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 show is co-produced by Norwich Theatre and Acosta Danza’s production partner, Valid Productions. The producers and Carlos, who is director of both Acosta Danza and Birmingham Royal Ballet, hope to draw in 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 Carlos.
“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.”
The co-production is the next step in a relationship between Valid Productions and Norwich Theatre which saw the pair also reviving Carlos’ solo show On Before.
Norwich Theatre Chief Executive and Creative Director Stephen Crocker explains: “It’s been part of Norwich Theatre’s vision to establish this venue and this city as an international destination for culture but also a place where amazing work comes from.
“Carlos is an artist I wanted to bring here because he understands our drive and the level of our ambition. I knew where he was at in terms of developing his work with Acosta Danza, a company I had always adored because of the way in which they dance and the diversity they bring not just in choreographic language but also in representation.
“We have been building that relationship and I remember him telling me he wanted to create a Nutcracker. By this point we had plans for touring so we talked about the idea and said ‘let’s do it’.”
The production brings together video and set design by Nina Dunn, whose previous work includes Bonnie and Clyde, 9 to 5 The Musical and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Don Quixote, costumes by Angelo Alberto, lighting by Andrew Exeter and the technical skills of the team at Norwich Theatre and Acosta Danza.
And the producers were keen to ensure the show has a longer life than Christmas.
“It was a conscious decision to tour from November into January,” says Stephen. “From a venue perspective it’s about giving an alternative offer in their programme. There are lots of people who want to find a way to do something special for Christmas and a trip to the theatre with friends and family is really important. I think Nutcracker is a really good alternative to panto – and a Nutcracker that is accessible as well.”
The producers and Carlos hope this initial tour is only the beginning for Nutcracker in Havana.
“We have conversations underway about where it’s going in 2025 and indeed in 2026, trying to look ahead,” says Stephen. “It’s the sort of show that we think can come back each year. Acosta Danza has a phenomenal international reputation and it’s a story much loved across national boundaries so the ambition is it might travel abroad in the future.”
For this tour the hope is that audiences find a new way of approaching a popular classic.
“At its heart it is The Nutcracker story that you can expect with all of the magic and joy that goes with that,” says Stephen. “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.”
For more information or to book visit norwichtheatre.org or call our Box Office on 01603 630 000.
Written by Dianne Parkes
