E-Mail This Article to a Friend Funding for all The Nutcracker finds a new home, the North Shore Music Theatre gets a grant, and more

The Nutcracker (continued): Boston Ballet strikes back

As most of you know by now, Boston Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker, which last October was evicted from the Wang Theatre, where it had resided for the past 35 years, has found a new home. At a press conference at the company’s South End home last Thursday hosted by Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino, Boston Ballet executive director Valerie Wilder, Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen, and Broadway in Boston/Clear Channel Entertainment president Tony McLean, it was announced that Boston Ballet and Clear Channel have reached an agreement whereby The Nutcracker will move to the Colonial Theatre for the 2004 holiday season and then to the newly renovated (by Clear Channel, at a cost of almost $40 million) Opera House for the next three years, 2005 through 2007. Everyone was upbeat: Mayor Menino called it "a great day for our city, a great day for the arts," Valerie Wilder enthused about The Nutcracker’s "two new homes," Mikko Nissinen promised a "special-edition jewel" of a production in the Colonial, and Tony McLean assured us that "Clear Channel is thrilled to be associated with Boston Ballet."

The Ballet is, of course, relieved to have found a reasonable solution to its Nutcracker problem in a city that didn’t have many acceptable options (Hynes Auditorium? The FleetCenter? A tent on Boston Common?). The mayor can take credit for having brokered an agreement that saves Boston from the ignominy of foreclosing on the world’s most-watched ballet production. And Clear Channel, heretofore stigmatized as commercial outsiders bringing Broadway leftovers to Boston, can now legitimately position itself as a supporter of local, non-profit arts organizations.

It was, then, not a bad day for the arts, but a lot of work remains to be done if The Nutcracker — and Boston Ballet — is to survive. This past holiday season, Nutcracker attendance, which had sagged to the 115,00 range, rose to almost 140,000, which is close to the best the production has ever done. Sales benefitted from the news that in 2004 the Wang Center intended to replace The Nutcracker with the Rockettes’ touring "Radio City Christmas Spectacular": everyone wanted to see the last production at the Wang. The 45 performances averaged about 3100 spectators — a great turnout for a 3600-capacity theater with a lot of far-away seats. The bad news is that the Colonial holds only 1700. (In case you’re wondering why The Nutcracker isn’t moving directly to the 2500-seat Opera House, remember that Clear Channel is opening The Lion King there on July 16 and expecting that production to run a year, certainly through Christmas.) Even 45 Colonial sellouts would allow only 76,500 people to see The Nutcracker this year. That can’t be enough for a company that had to slash its budget when the production brought in only 115,000. Moreover, the Ballet will have to spend a considerable sum to turn its big Wang Nutcracker into the small "jewel" that Nissinen has promised.

All the same, in getting the mayor’s help and reaching an agreement with Clear Channel that not many predicted could happen, Wilder and Nissinen have shown themselves to be a resourceful pair who can find solutions. Wilder points out that the smaller Colonial has a higher percentage of close-up seats for which the Ballet can fairly ask top dollar. What that top will be, of course, has yet to be determined. Last year’s best Nutcracker seats went for $77; it’s hard to imagine that this year’s price can be appreciably higher. On the other hand, there will be demand for more than 45 performances, and this company has the talent and the depth to meet that demand. Providence’s Trinity Repertory Company opened its 2003 production of A Christmas Carol on November 22 and offered 58 performances. Most of the 140,000 who saw Boston Ballet’s 2003 Nutcracker at the Wang will, I think, be eager to see its 2004 Nutcracker at the Colonial. The major complaint about the Wang Nutcracker was always that it was too big, too much of an extravaganza. The Colonial Nutcracker will be a more intimate affair, and for one year, at least, that will attract the curious. What’s more, no matter how many performances the Ballet is able to put on, it’ll be a hot ticket, with demand exceeding supply. And the hundreds of thousands who see The Lion King at the Opera House will create a positive buzz and free advertising for the 2005 Nutcracker.

As for the Wang Center, it’s expected to announce the terms of its agreement with the Rockettes later this month. Initial reports suggested that the two would be signing an eight-year contract, but it’s hard to imagine that anything like 140,000 Bostonians will flock to the same touring Rockettes show year after year, especially after the Boston Globe’s Christine Temin went down to Fort Lauderdale last December and gave an unequivocal thumbs-down to the performance she saw there. And even when you allow that the Rockettes will be renting the Wang at a commercial rate as opposed to the non-profit rate the Ballet paid, it’s hard to understand how they’re going to generate significantly greater revenue for the Wang. Just as it’s hard to understand why a production that regularly brought in 120,000 people and largely filled what was never meant to be a performance theater (it was built as a movie house) couldn’t make enough money to keep all parties happy. In any case, over at least the next four years, the Rockettes will be competing with a Clear Channel–supported Nutcracker (and this year both will be up against The Lion King). If the Rockettes are a hit, they’ll still be here in 2008. If not, we could see the Wang and Clear Channel wind up in a bidding war for The Nutcracker.

— Jeffrey Gantz

Money for musicals

The North Shore Music Theatre, a force in the ongoing fight to challenge Andrew Lloyd Webber, has announced that it is the only organization in Massachusetts to receive a 2004 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the creation of new musical theater.

Artistic director Jon Kimbell, expressing a goal no less lofty than "to identify those authors and works which will make up the repertoire of the American Musical Theater in the 21st century," plans to use the funds to cement the position of NSMT as a leader in the development of new work. NSMT is a partner with Suffolk University and the New Opera and Musical Theatre Initiative in producing the annual Birth of a Musical Festival, and Kimbell is a founding member of the National Alliance for the Musical Theatre, which holds a festival in New York City each year to showcase new works.

Last season, the Beverly-based theater produced the world premiere of Memphis, an energetic new musical inspired by the life of DJ Dewey Phillips, who introduced his white radio audience to African-American music in the 1940s and ’50s. This season, it will offer the American premiere of a new musical based on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, with music by George Stiles, who composed the Olivier Award–winning Honk. Just imagine Albert Finney singing while he did all that X-rated eating.

— Carolyn Clay

Your Valentine’s Day guide

Valentine’s Day, like Virginia, is for lovers. If you don’t have one, February 14 is lemon juice in the paper cut of your life. Here are our suggestions for making the most of it, whether you’re coupled or feeling singled out.

Scullers, in the DoubleTree Guest Suites Hotel, 400 Soldiers Field Road, presents a whole weekend around Carol Sloane and the James William Trio. They perform at 8 and 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $22, or $67 for dinner and show; call (617) 562-4111. The Regattabar at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge hosts the Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and 10 p.m. and Sunday at 3 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $26 to $30; call (617) 661-5000. Or you can slink and dip on Friday night at the "Hips on Fire Valentine’s Salsa Party" at the Brazilian Cultural Center of New England, 310 Webster Avenue in Cambridge. Tickets are $10; call (617) 547-5343.

The Thungs return to the Abbey Lounge, 3 Beacon Street, Somerville, for their second annual Valentine’s appearance on Friday night; call (617) 441-9631. On Sunday, Great Scott, at 1222 Commonwealth Avenue in Allston, hosts a "Glam Valentine’s Show" with Sarah Rabdau, the Rudds, and Ross Phasor. Proceeds benefit Allston Brighton Free Radio. Tickets are $5; call (617) 734-4502. And on Saturday, Johnny D’s, 17 Holland Street in Somerville’s Davis Square, hosts its V-Day party with Four Piece Suit and Black Cat Burlesque. Cover is $10; call (617) 776-2004.

The exiled Oni Gallery gets into the spirit with "Bad Sex," celebrating not naughtiness but tedious, eyes-on-the-ceiling sex, with music, videos, and performances at 8 p.m. at the Cambridge Family YMCA, 820 Massachusetts Avenue. Tickets are $10; call (617) 661-9622. Artist Carly Weaver defaces her third-grade Valentine’s cards in a an art show on Sunday at 8 p.m. at ZuZu, 474 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square. Bring a buck or two because Carly’s got a kissing booth. The show coincides with the first publication of the Middle East’s own singles ’zine, complete with glamor shots of all your favorite regulars.

The Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, at 41 Second Street, gets in on warm-and-fuzzy art with Yleana Martinez’s "Crazy Love: Quilts from the Heart," which opens on Saturday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and runs through March 26. Following the opening at 8 p.m., Monkeyhouse, Boston’s "wig-wearin’, globe-trottin’ dance-theater collective," presents "Ahem. Aha! Hmmm." with choreography sexy and satirical. Tickets are $20, $15 for students and seniors; call (617) 577-1400. You can expect sex and satire at the Cover 2 Cover Valentine’s Erotica event at the Paradise Lounge on Saturday. The series, in which writers read their favorite authors and musicians cover their favorite songs, presents Steve Almond, A.M. Homes, Michelle Chalfoun, Jake Brennan and others at 6 p.m. at the Paradise Lounge, 969 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Tickets are $7; call (617) 562-8814.

Clubland uses the lovy-dovy day for an excuse to rock hard. WFNX DJ Anngelle Wood of the Rising Tide series presents "Heart-Shaped Rock" at the Lizard Lounge, 1667 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, with a line-up of rocking Aphrodites, including Chroma, the Kitty Kill, Starla Dear, Sugabomb, and Drab. Cover is $7; call (617) 547-0759. The Kirkland Café, 425 Washington Street in Somerville, hosts its Valentine’s Day Love Goddess Revue on Saturday at 8 p.m. with four female-fronted bands: Alison Block, the Crooked Hearts, Girl on Top, and Reckless Daughter. Cover is $5; call (617) 491-9640. Check out Jacques, 79 Broadway in Bay Village, on Saturday for a special V-Day edition of "Raw Bar" with Miss Mary Mac, Nancy Lancy, Leah Callahan, and Rhodes Pierre. Cover is $8; call (617) 426-8902. You can get a jump on celebrating by playing the Dating or Newlywed Game tonight (Thursday) at Dyke Night’s "Annual Campy Game Show" event at the Midway Café, 3496 Washington Street in Jamaica Plain. Cover is $10; call (617) 524-9038. And the Middle East presents its annual Valentine’s Day Massacre with National Dust, the Call Up, Every 40 Seconds, Elgin James, and Tramps like Us. Cover is $8; call (617) 864-EAST.

Nancy Armstrong, Robert Honeysucker, and Daniel Stepner present "Soft Lights & Sweet Music" at 7:30 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue in Boston. Tickets are $24; call (617) 267-9300. And, of course, for the true romantics out there, the Brattle screens Casablanca Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. at 40 Brattle Street in Harvard Square. Tickets are $9; call (617) 876-6837.

— Nina MacLaughlin