After seeing The Bang Group's Nut/Cracked, a contemporary holiday classic created in 2003, I was fortunate to be able to do a zoom interview with lighting designer Kathy Kaufmann and director David Parker. In Nut/Cracked, "dance genres collide and jostle each other with a genial clamor" in a play on The Nutcracker, with music by Tchaikovsky as well as Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller. Co-commissioned by Dance Theater Workshop in New York City and The Carlo Felice Opera House in Genoa, Italy, Nut/Cracked has been performed every season since its inception (including during covid)! This holiday season, it was seen at the 92nd Street Y in New York City in December 2025.