Nutcracker Sweeties by David Bintley, music by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn after Tchaikovsky
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Cast
David Bintley — Choreographer
Peter J. Davison — Set designer
Jasper Conran — Costume designer
Peter Mumford — Lighting designer
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Echoes of Ellington Jazz Orchestra
Program notes
Nutcracker Sweeties is Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington’s big band take on the Tchaikovsky classic—The Nutcracker as you've never seen or heard it before! It portrays Broadway and America in the 1940s: full of humor, irony, commentary, swing, and blues. The cast, dressed in an array of glamorous Jasper Conran costumes, includes pom-pom girls, drum majorettes, sailors, GIs and Candy Kane. David Bintley’s choreography is a catwalk of jazz styles. With its eye-catching clothes and flashing neon sets, Nutcracker Sweeties is imaginative, funny and visually irresistible.