Nutcracker

Thu.-Sun., Dec. 16-19, 8 p.m., $25, Painted Bride Arts Center, 230 Vine St., 484-995-3431, cabaretredlight.com.

by A.D. Amorosi

[ burlesque ]

Admit it, you hate the fucking Nutcracker. Year after year, it's the same cheerful crap about sugar-plum fairies and soldiers — whatever happened to its Gothic, sensual origins courtesy of E.T.A. Hoffmann? Just ask Cabaret Red Light co-director Peter Gaffney and composer Rolf Lakaemper, who're reworking the Tchaikovsky classic with local burlesque diva Anna Frangiosa, a bunch of shadow puppeteers and Mothers of Invention-like musicians. Their version is a sexy prop-heavy narrative ballet based on a bratty kid's troubled visions on Christmas Eve, and how Godfather Drosselmeyer explains it all away as fluff. Laughs and adult situations ensue.

Thu.-Sun., Dec. 16-19, 8 p.m., $25, Painted Bride Arts Center, 230 Vine St., 484-995-3431, cabaretredlight.com.