In the wings: Sugar plums, soldiers and sweet beats

San Diego Union-Tribune

Nov. 15, 2017 12 PM PT

Tchaikovsky goes all “Krush Groove” in “The Hip-Hop Nutcracker,” an ‘80s-minded riff on the holiday favorite.

The touring show features the pioneering rapper Kurtis Blow (“The Breaks”) as guest MC, plus modern dancers choreographed by director Jennifer Weber of Brooklyn’s Decadancetheatre.

It also promises digital scenery that will transplant the classic story to 1980s Brooklyn.

“The Hip-Hop Nutcracker” hits the Civic Theatre on Saturday for a one-night-only performance.

“The Hip-Hop Nutcracker”

When: 8 p.m. Saturday.

Where: San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown.

Tickets: $31.50-$61.50.

Phone: (619) 570-1100

Online: sdcivic.org.

jim.hebert@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @jimhebert

Arts | Culture

James Hebert

James Hebert is The San Diego Union-Tribune’s theater critic, and has covered the San Diego arts scene for more than two decades. He earned his master’s degree at Columbia University in New York and worked as a magazine editor in Boston before joining the U-T. Hebert’s awards include a national arts-writing prize from the Society for Features Journalism (for a profile of the choreographer Twyla Tharp), and some two dozen local and regional journalism honors; his work also has been republished in two college writing textbooks. In 2009, Hebert served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.