Tony-winning producers David Garfinkle and Dr. Ron Simons announced the world-premiere of "Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker"—a holiday dream told in dance—which will play at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr., Dec. 20-30.

According to a press release, "SUGAR HILL is set to the music of the genre-defying collaboration between jazz icons bandleader/composer Duke Ellington and composer Billy Strayhorn in a captivating way that has never been done before." Strayhorn was known to be openly gay.

Sugar Hill, in its world premiere, reveals the glamour of the 1930s as seen through the eyes of the nonconformist daughter of a high-society Black family in Manhattan and her own fantastic dreamworld in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Harlem.

The production will star Jinhao Zhang and Josue Gomez as the Nutcracker Musician, Alicia Mae Holloway as Lena, Shavey Brown as Sweet Pea, Jennifer Jade Ledesna as The Angel, Kenneth Darryl Ard as Uncle Dross, and Brenda Braxton as Mother Sugar/Mama Stall.

Tickets are on sale now and available for purchase at AuditoriumTheatre.org. For more information about the production, visit SugarHillNutcracker.com.

—Andrew Davis