Smuin Cracks Christmas

Related Content

• Foxtails Brigade Beautifully Expresses Being 'Not Really in the Christmas Mood'
  December 22, 2011
• Top 5 Places to Escape Christmas
  December 21, 2011
• Forget Iron Maiden for Babies, or Mozart -- Raymond Scott Still Has the Best Lullaby Record
  November 8, 2011
• Nope, It's Still Not Okay to Compare a Current Band to Mozart
  August 11, 2011
• Top Six Christmas Songs That Don't Actually Suck
  December 23, 2011

More About

• Michael Smuin
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Willie Nelson
• Nolan Gasser
• Holiday Season

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

In 1995, choreographer Michael Smuin created a holiday piece that's still the Bay Area's most popular antidote to The Nutcracker. Swimming with dancing Christmas trees, starry-eyed vamps, and flirty hula dancers, The Christmas Ballet harmonizes traditional Christmas fare with riotous ingenuity. This year, Smuin weaves together old and new material. Act I, "The Classical Christmas," features the usual suspects (Bach, Mozart) along with fresh tracks by the ensembles Chanticleer and Fortuna, as well as a French New Year's carol from the 1500s. Act II, "The Cool Christmas," presents a kaleidoscopic cast of characters (from pouty ballerinas in Santa Baby outfits to a capering Frosty the Snowman) who bust out to songs by Eartha Kitt, Willie Nelson, and the Chieftains. A new tune, "Christmas by the Bay," written by lyricist Clark Sterling and composer Nolan Gasser, describes swooning couples enjoying the holidays against a quintessential rain-splattered backdrop. Along with splitting the Nutcracker'slock on the season, this year's show doles out more than a few surprises.
Dec. 16-28