The New ABT Nutcracker at BAM

BAM -- The Brooklyn Academy of Music, located at 30 Lafayette Avenue, in Brooklyn New York, was founded in 1861 and is America's oldest continuously operating performing arts center. During its first century, BAM hosted political events, speeches, and rallies on the pressing issues of the day. Speakers included Henry Beecher Stowe, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Gertrude Stein, Langston Hughes, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Amelia Earhart.

According to BAM's website: "BAM's mission is to be the preeminent, progressive performing and cinema arts center of the 21st century, engaging both global and local communities. BAM strives to create a distinctive environment for an inspirational and transformative aesthetic experience."

BAM presents or produces up to 220 stage performances each year, many of international origin and it also contains a four-screen cinema, open 365 days a year, presenting new releases and repertory films.

Some architectural features of the exterior of BAM's building can be seen in the photo collage above. The 1908 Beaux Arts style building was designed by Herts and Tallant—premier theater architects of the period.

My husband and I visited BAM this past weekend to attend the final performance of The American Ballet Theatre's ( ABT) new Nutcracker production choreographed by artist in residence Alexei Ratmansky at BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House.

Attending the famous 1892 Nutcracker ballet, with its score written by Pyotr IIyich Tchaikovsky, has become an Christmas tradition for many families. We were eager to see this new production which featured set and costume designs by Richard Hudson, who won a Tony award for The Lion King.

The New York Times gave it a "thumbs up" in their review, and so did we, as we watched the ballet feeling both enchanted and amused.  To see a wonderful interactive ABT story book about the production, including videos, click here.

My photos of the cast's final bows at the end of the wonderful production in a collage. 

 Click here for a NYT slide show of photos from the production.

This is a Guggenheim Museum Works & Process video that shows the set design, and Ratmansky sharing some of his ideas for the new production while ABT principal dancers practice in rehearsal for the Nutcracker -- exquisite!


 
Linking this post to:

"Outdoor Wednesday" on Susan's blog A Southern Daydreamer

"Rednesday" on Sue's blog It's a Very Cherry World