Every December, one man in Center City becomes Marie, Fritz, a creepy Uncle Drosselmeyer, the mice and the Sugar Plum Fairy, all inside the same hour. Chris Davis’ One-Man Nutcracker is back for its seventh year at the Proscenium Theatre at The Drake, and the show has quietly become one of the city’s stranger holiday habits.
The One-Man Nutcracker runs December 9 through January 10, with 24 performances. Tickets are $35 general admission and $15 for students, industry members and children. The show runs 60 minutes and is recommended for ages 7 and up.
How the One-Man Nutcracker Works
Davis wrote the show and performs every part. MK Tuomanen directs, Campbell Tosney choreographs, Adriano Shaplin handles sound design, Krista Smith designs the lighting, and Severin Blake provides the narration. The retelling mixes comedy, storytelling and actual ballet, and it takes its cues from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s original Nutcracker story as well as Tchaikovsky’s ballet.
The source material is old enough to take a joke. E.T.A. Hoffmann published his Nutcracker story in 1816, and Tchaikovsky’s ballet first reached the stage in St. Petersburg in 1892. Most Americans know it as a December ritual of tutus and sugar plums, which gives a solo comic version plenty to poke at, from the creepy Uncle Drosselmeyer to the Sugar Plum Fairy’s big moment.
It began as an irreverent experiment. Seven years later it is an annual tradition, and audiences come back each year to watch one performer transform into an entire cast. Philadelphia has a long habit of taking the Nutcracker sideways, as ContempraDANCE did with its Philly-style Nutcracker in 2019, and the One-Man Nutcracker is the version that needs only one body.
The Ballet Behind the One-Man Nutcracker
The joke only works because the dancing is real. Davis has trained extensively to improve his technique, and he sharpens the dancing in the show every season. That training led to his newest solo work, The 40-Year-Old Ballerino, which he recently performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Davis is a Philadelphia actor and writer whose solo shows have toured across the country and in Europe. He has appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe from 2014 through 2019 and again this year. The One-Man Nutcracker is the show where those years of solo work and a late-blooming ballet habit meet in one tutu-sized package.
Planning a One-Man Nutcracker Day in Center City
Weeknight shows start at 7 p.m. in the opening and closing weeks, and Saturday and Sunday performances land at noon or 5 p.m. Over the school break, noon matinees run December 22, 23, 24, 29 and 30, including Christmas Eve, which makes the show an easy slot in a family holiday week. Two adults and two children come to $100 before fees.
The Proscenium Theatre is one of the rooms at The Drake. The building also holds the Louis Bluver Theatre, which hosted Abi Morgan’s Lovesong in 2024. The One-Man Nutcracker suits both longtime Nutcracker devotees and first-time balletgoers, and at an hour long it is gentle on small attention spans.
A matinee fits easily into a Center City holiday day. The Christmas Village, the lights, the shopping and the restaurants all sit in the same part of town, and a 60-minute show leaves room for lunch beforehand and a walk afterward. Families with younger children can take the noon performances and be done before the afternoon runs out of patience.
Davis is getting a little better at ballet every December, and the audience gets to watch him do it.
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