Black Nativity: A Gospel Song Play and The Chocolate Nutcracker are two song- and dance-filled cultural productions that take classic holiday tales and tell them from an African-American perspective. Both have become local holiday traditions, both involve talented members of the community — children and adults — and both are presented in St. Petersburg this weekend.
The fourth annual local production of Langston Hughes' Black Nativity: A Gospel Song Play is directed by Bob Devin Jones, choreographed by Soulful Arts Dance Academy's Paulette Walker Johnson and features a multicultural cast of 50 actors, singers, dancers and musicians, who range in age from eight to 82. Based on the Gospel of St. Luke and infused with the poetry of Hughes, the play is the Nativity story re-imagined and marked by gospel music and dance.
Life Force Cultural Arts Academy stages the 10th anniversary production of LaVerne Reed's The Chocolate Nutcracker. In the multicultural, multiethnic celebration of music and dance — tap, jazz, funk, hip-hop and break-dancing in addition to ballet — Claire and the Nutcracker embark on an international adventure, from Harlem to Egypt to West Africa to Brazil. The program incorporates African, classical, gospel, hip-hop and jazz music, and performers include children from the community paired with professional choreographers and dancers.
Black Nativity, Dec. 7-9, 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sun., Palladium Theater, 253 Fifth Ave. N., St. Petersburg, free admission (reservations suggested), 813-833-8069; and Chocolate Nutcracker, Sat., Dec. 8, 1 and 7:30 p.m., $27-$47, Mahaffey Theater, 400 First St. S., St. Petersburg, 727-898-2100.
This article appears in Dec 5-11, 2007.