'Hip Hop Nutcracker'
Tuesday-Wednesday: E.T.A. Hoffman's classic tale gets transposed to a present-day love story in the New York neighborhood of Washington Heights (with a flashback to 1985). Tchaikovsky's music will be spun by a live DJ and accompanied by an electric violin, with a bonus performance by MC Kurtis Blow, the pioneering rapper who had hip-hop's first gold record in 1980 with "The Breaks." If you're more into break-dancing than ballet, but still love Tchaikovsky, this is the "Nutcracker" for you. (7:30 p.m. Nov. 24-25, Ordway Music Theater, 345 Washington St., St. Paul. $25-$90. 651-224-4222 or ordway.org)
SHEILA REGAN
