The hellion of “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” is a little boy named Fritz who is as naughty as they come. He fights with his sister, Marie; he convinces the boys at a Christmas Eve party to antagonize the girls. And who breaks the Nutcracker doll? Silly question. Wherever Fritz goes, trouble follows.
For a young dancer, it can be a star turn.
This season at New York City Ballet, two former Fritzes have moved up the casting ladder to play the most coveted male children’s role of all. Hannon Hatchett, 10, and Finlay McCurdy-Van Alstine, 11, both students at the company-affiliated School of American Ballet, will make their debuts as the Prince, a part that demands real acting and dancing chops: A Nutcracker soldier, stiff and robotic, must blossom into a graceful, gentle Prince.
He must be brave. He must have elegance. And he must be able to perform in front of a couple of thousand people. (“The Nutcracker” opens at Lincoln Center on Friday and runs through Jan. 5.)
Hannon and Finlay are stage animals with a zeal for performing full out while keeping their innocence intact. After working with them when they played Fritz, Dena Abergel and Arch Higgins, the children’s repertory director at City Ballet and associate director, knew that they would approach the Prince with a sense of purpose.
“We felt secure that they would both take the role seriously,” Abergel said. “Because they are young boys, and in order to carry the ballet, you have to do your homework. And they’ve been doing their homework.” That means, she added, “Practicing and going through it in your head and being prepared for the rehearsals.”
It helps that they are pals, rooting for each other as they try to absorb the steps and the nuances of the role. They don’t really remember how they became friends, but Hannon put it like this: “Just started talking. Kept talking. Became friends.”
Hannon, who has appeared in two other productions at City Ballet, held the stage grandly as the young hero, Oliver, in Christopher Wheeldon’s “Carnival of the Animals” last winter. His mother, Callie Hatchett, a ballet teacher, said she and her husband “see him in his everyday life as a just-turned 10-year-old little boy playing and being silly.” So when she sees him onstage, “I feel blown away sometimes,” she said. “He just really comes alive onstage.”
Finlay, in sixth grade, and Hannon, in fifth, are both thoughtful — somehow both guileless and worldly — but also vivacious balls of energy. Hannon plays baseball and basketball and loves the Yankees and the Knicks. Finlay, a Mets fan, is trying to teach himself how to play the guitar.
“That’s not working out as well as it could,” he said. “I do a lot of drawing and reading, and I like hanging out with my friends a lot if I have the time. But nobody — none of my friends have the time. Especially me.”
Finlay’s musician parents, Michael McCurdy and Christa Van Alstine — she was on tour with Joe Jackson when Finlay was cast as the Prince — enrolled him in classes when he was 3. They weren’t the ones pushing it; after a play date at a local dance studio, “he just kept asking to go back,” Van Alstine said. “And that was it. He found it. He told us what he wanted.”
They are in awe of his fascination with ballet. From the time he was little, he told them that he loved the way it made him feel. “Sometimes he has trouble focusing, and I really do think that it’s this gift to him,” Van Alstine said. “It helps keep his body busy. It helps keep his mind focused. It’s creative, but it’s structured. There’s a lot of freedom, but there are expectations. I think there’s something about it that just really works with his mind and his body.”
Finlay’s younger brother is at the school, too. It’s a lot of juggling, but for Van Alstine and her huband it’s worth it. She saw how performing Fritz didn’t change Finlay so much as open him up, helping him to become more himself. Of course, his parents are thrilled to watch him play the Prince, but they see a bigger picture, too: “So many kids have these things inside of them and they don’t get the opportunity to have it fostered,” Van Alstine said. “Again, this role, it’s a challenge. It’s not easy for him. He has to work at it. He really works. But he has the opportunity to have a challenge.”
As musicians, Van Alstine and McCurdy know the value of that. “You’re getting better and practicing getting better,” she said, “at being a human, being an artist.”
What follows is an edited conversation with these young artists-in-the-making who were captured in daily life — at home, traveling, in class and rehearsal and, generally, frolicking all over Lincoln Center — by the photographer Stella Blackmon. The pressure is mounting, but they know that this is when the fun really starts.
How did you discover ballet?
HANNON My mom is a dance teacher, and one of my earliest memories — I was 6 — was when she asked a question to her dancers: “What does rond de jambe mean?” and I had some sticky notes, right? I wrote down the meaning, which was “circle of the leg.” And I put it on the bench where she was sitting, and she kind of laughed. It was pretty funny.
How did you end up at the School of American Ballet?
FINLAY I saw a documentary called “On Pointe” on Disney, and it really motivated me. I wanted to be a part of what they were doing.
The series follows a group of students at the school. How old were you?
FINLAY I was about 7. I told my mom that I want to be that guy — the Nutcracker. I want to be the Prince. She said to me, “Finny, that school is for people who want to do ballet [when they grow up].” I was like, “Well, if I’m going to do ballet, I want to do it there.” So she signed me up for the audition.
What were your reactions when you found out you were cast as the Prince?
FINLAY I couldn’t really, like, take it in. I was in my car driving home from ballet. And my dad was like, “Mom wants to call you.” [Van Alstine was in Scotland when she received the news via email.] I was like, Wow. I couldn’t really process it, but an hour later, I was like, Wait a minute — I’m actually doing this thing. It was awesome.
HANNON I was just in my room playing games, and my mom called me over to the living room, and she was like, “Hey, read this.” It was about me getting cast in “The Nutcracker.” I started jumping around because I was so happy. But when I stopped jumping around and went back to my room, I actually thought of the things I had to do. I had to do the battle scene. The second act. The party scene.
What are you looking forward to?
HANNON You go first?
FINLAY Oh, I couldn’t care less. You can go.
HANNON You get to fight the Mouse King and it’s fun how you just get to battle him. [Fiercely, he waved an invisible sword.] Pssh, pssh, pssh! The tension’s building up. I might lose because I’m on the ground! I’m fighting, but then Marie throws her shoe. And then I kill the Mouse King, and I win. That’s my favorite part.
FINLAY I like the Prince role because there are a lot of scenes that he’s in. I’ve never been in the battle scene or the second act, which is really cool. I like the battle scene a lot. But my favorite scene that I get to play in is probably the pantomime.
In the pantomime scene, you show what happened during the battle to everyone in the Land of the Sweets.
FINLAY I like telling stories a lot. I’m not good at it, but I like telling stories. I practice a lot.
How do you want your Prince to be?
HANNON For me, a prince should be nice and elegant. And I guess swift, like, smooth. You don’t walk like someone just off the streets. You would walk very elegant — like, balls of the feet.
You both will be doing the same choreography, but how do you think you’re different?
HANNON Well, I mean, he has blond hair.
FINLAY He has brown hair.
Maybe beyond that?
HANNON When I watch you in rehearsals during the party scene, you really take things slower. You’re in the back, you’re like [he extends his arm like he’s shaking a hand] to the people.
FINLAY I take things a lot slower.
HANNON I always kind of like things quick and fast, but not too fast. You know, just like normal, medium speed.
FINLAY I don’t think that we’re different.
HANNON In ballet terms, no, not really.
FINLAY As a person, definitely. But like, ballet wise, we’re pretty similar.
What were your Fritz experiences like?
HANNON In my head during the shows was: Be super annoying. Be mean. Be really nice to the boys. Be really mean to the girls. And just act silly and stuff like that.
FINLAY I loved it. I think that it’s one of the most important roles because if Fritz didn’t break the Nutcracker, or wasn’t mean to Marie, it probably would have turned out differently.
It’s a really good point. Can you describe what it’s like to perform on that stage?
FINLAY It’s amazing. The stage is big, so you feel tiny on it.
HANNON In the theater, there’s like 2,500 people watching you and sometimes, like during the pantomime, the whole spotlight is on you. It feels scary, but it’s also nice because everybody is watching you. Right there, you have the spotlight. You don’t have to worry about anyone else onstage. You just worry about yourself.
FINLAY I’m actually super nervous. Not really nervous, but if I mess up, then that messes everybody else up. I messed up really badly last year. [Wearily] Instead of playing my role as Fritz in the Grandfather’s Dance, I decided to play the role as Prince. The Covid vaccine did not help that at all.
HANNON In “Carnival,” I did mess up because my yo-yo fell out of my pocket while I was doing a cartwheel. I had to just play it off like a yo-yo is just on the ground. You just have to, like, play it off casually. So when you fall, you’ve got to be like, Oh well, let me just brush myself off or something like that. You know?
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