A spin on a classic — Boston's 'Urban Nutcracker' turns 20

For 20 years, Bostonians have enjoyed a unique “Nutcracker,” one that uses Boston landmarks as its background, like the golden dome of the State House, the glowing Citgo sign, the Hatch Shell and even a parade of ducklings.

Anthony Williams is the man behind the production; he envisioned a new kind of “Nutcracker” for the city two decades ago.

“‘Urban Nutcracker’ was a big hit from the very beginning, even though the show technically was not that great. But the spirit was incredible, a spirit that you didn't really see or feel too much in the Boston theater,” Williams says at a recent rehearsal.

“Anthony Williams’ Urban Nutcracker” celebrates its 20th season in Boston this year. The production, currently produced by City Ballet Boston, combines the 19th-century music of Tchaikovsky with the 20th-century jazz of Duke Ellington. The traditional ballet choreography is fused with tap, jazz, flamenco and hip-hop dancing.

More than 150 dancers will take the stage at the Shubert Theatre from Dec. 18-22 to perform along with a 16-piece live orchestra of local musicians.

William’s interest in creating a diverse “Nutcracker” came from his multicultural upbringing. “My mother was Italian and she cooked Italian food. My father was black. He cooked soul food. And that's how I was raised mixing things together,” he says. It inspired him to blend genres of dance to create his original production.

Dancers in this year's production come from Williams’ dance school, along with dancers from the Brooklyn Ballet, United Stylze and the Northeast School of Ballet.

Earlier in his career, Williams was a principal dancer for the Boston Ballet, where he performed “The Nutcracker” in 1965. He went on to dance with the Joffrey Ballet and Royal Winnipeg Ballet. When he retired from dancing professionally, he opened his dance studio in Jamaica Plain, where he now nurtures new talent like Avani Shah, 14, a youth dancer from Boston Latin School.

Shah has been dancing at the center for five years. “I think it's kind of special that Tony Williams’ studio is just able to bring such people who are different, but at the end of the day, we can all dance the same, we can all do it,” she says. Shah dances ballet, modern, and tap, and in the production, she plays numerous roles, including Samantha, Tap City tapper and Rox Riff Kid.

Shah says dancing with Williams changed the preconceived notions she had about professional dancers. She used to imagine stereotypical ballet dancers as thin white women. At Tony Williams’, that’s not the case. “[It] just destroys that stereotype, because it's not even present in my mind when I'm here, because I'm seeing dancers who just look like people and they're dancing just beautifully.”

Looking back, Williams recalls the fraught mood at the time of his inaugural “Urban Nutcracker” production. “The first year we did the show … three months after 9/11, everyone was in trauma in the country. And that show was like a balm for people to get together and just be in the theater.”

And this year, amid the gloom of the pandemic, Williams wants to bring some levity and joy with the show. “The world has a lot of sadness and tragedy. And so what I can do is offer a little bit of happiness to people.”

"Urban Nutcracker" will play the Boch Center Shubert Theatre from Dec. 18-22.

Correction: An earlier photo caption misspelled one of the dancer's names. We regret the error.