There are brats, and then there is Fritz, the “Nutcracker” character who can’t help being a menace. The irritable and irritating little brother of Marie, Fritz leaks anarchic energy all over the stage. He appears only in the big party scene in the first act, but he makes the most of it. He’s a born leader, a pint-size demon, the archfoe of doll-cradling girls.
He endures all sorts of setbacks, but he bounces back, even when it comes time to dance and every girl at his family’s Christmas party rejects him. He is forced — horrors — to dance with his mother. It’s OK. With an eye on the prize, he manages, mid-choreography, to yank a chunk of Marie’s hair with wicked glee.
In a proper home with proper manners, Fritz is a hurricane. He stands in for all of us who would rather watch “Bad Santa” than “White Christmas.” He is adorable but also a touch feral. This year, in New York City Ballet’s production of “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker,” which opens Friday, the role will be shared by two boys who are more than up to the task.
Nobuaki Coté, 10, and Oliver Szin, who turns 10 on Dec. 1, students at the School of American Ballet, the company’s training ground, will alternate as Fritz during the “Nutcracker” run. They can’t believe their good fortune.
“The acting, New York City Ballet, in front of thousands of people,” said Nobuaki, who goes by Nobu. “It’s just really shocking that we get to be in it.”
A big personality is an obvious draw when casting the part. But Dena Abergel, the children’s repertory director at City Ballet, said that while a Fritz must be cute, he must also be reliable. “Fritz is in the front of most of the lines for the choreography,” she said. “We’ve learned from experience that it’s not enough just to have a mischievous personality. It has to be a kid who we can rely on.”
The part of Fritz was played by a female student, Susan Kaufman, when the ballet premiered in 1954. (There were only two boys in the school who were the right age and size for the ballet, and they alternated as the Prince.) “Balanchine would get my haircut so I would look like a boy of a certain period,” said Kaufman, now 85. “But I didn’t feel like a boy. I felt like a dancer.”
This year’s Fritzes, Nobu and Oliver, each has his own approach to the character, and that’s just what Abergel hopes for. “Nobu is experiencing more of the emotions of ‘Marie always gets the best present, Marie always is the chosen one,’” she said. “Oliver brings more of that impulsive, young energy.”
At a recent rehearsal, Nobu edged toward tragedy when, after getting in typical trouble, Fritz turned his back and sulked, his head hanging as heavy as a bowling ball. Oliver, leading a savage attack on the girls as they rocked their dolls, bounced up and down like an impish devil in a mosh pit.
In Balanchine’s classic telling, Marie is given a Nutcracker doll from Drosselmeier, her mysterious godfather, who attends a Christmas party with his Nephew. When the nutcracker doll breaks, Drosselmeier uses magic to bring it to life; it battles the Mouse King before transforming into the Prince.
Of course, the doll doesn’t break on its own. Fritz takes care of that. In some twisted way, he is the reason the magic can happen at all.
Both Nobu and Oliver wear this fact proudly. They take their role seriously, even giving each other helpful corrections. One came in the opening scene in which Fritz leans on a seated Marie as he sleeps. When she spots the Christmas tree and tries to wake him, he resists. Nobu had a note for Oliver.
“When I am pushing Marie away, he told me I shouldn’t open my eyes and then go back to sleep,” Oliver said. “I should stay asleep.”
Nobu, brushing off an imaginary Marie, said, “Like, ‘Oh let me sleep.’ And not just like, ‘I’m awake! Push!’”
Both are also true dance lovers — even beyond their life at the prestigious school. Oliver’s mother, Elaine Kao, studied piano at Juilliard, and tried to pass that onto her son. She could tell he wasn’t into it and asked him what else he might like to try. The answer was immediate: He wanted to dance.
She thought she would put him in a hip-hop class. “He said, ‘No, I’ve been watching “The Nutcracker” video on YouTube, and I really like it,’” she said.
Along with the School of American Ballet, he’s part of a dance team for which he’s working on a solo to a Michael Jackson medley. But Fritz, Kao said, “is a dream come true for him. He’s so happy.”
Nobu, who is a student at Ballet Tech, a public school that offers dance training and academic education to students in grades four through eight, started ballet after his father, Andrew Coté, a beekeeper, was looking for after-school activities. “Those programs fill up almost instantly,” Coté said. “All of the things he wanted filled up within 30 seconds. It was very slim pickings.”
But Coté saw ballet was available at a local studio, and he thought it would work for Nobu. “He’s high energy,” Coté said. “He likes to move around. He’s flexible. He likes doing jujitsu with me.”
Nobu’s teacher told Coté that his son had talent. Coté took him to the School of American Ballet, which, at the time, he knew nothing about. “I’m a complete philistine when it comes to ballet,” he said. “I’ve still never seen one.”
That will change soon. Coté is no stage parent — “no, no, no, no,” he said — but it’s clear that he is falling for ballet. He has screened “Billy Elliot” for Nobu more than once. “I mean, Billy Elliot’s dad and I apparently are kindred spirits,” Coté said. “I’m not like coming up out of the coal mine, but it’s close.”
For Nobu and Oliver — both first timers in “The Nutcracker” — the ballet is hard work. It’s responsibility. The boys are excited, but also anxious. Who wouldn’t be? “I’ve never done this before,” Nobu said. “Never in my life.”
He pounded the table as he laid out each unthinkable point: “This is the first time. First show. First year.”
Over the past couple of months, Nobu and Oliver have done what all professional dancers must do: rehearse, take class and rehearse some more. These are edited excerpts from a conversation with the pair who were captured in the studio as well as in a rambunctious romp through Lincoln Center, by the photographer Thea Traff. It’s practically become their second home.
It’s that time of year: Bring on the brats.
What do you think of Fritz?
NOBU Even though he’s only in one section of the show, it’s still really important.
Why?
OLIVER If he didn’t break the Nutcracker, Marie wouldn’t have the dream and none of the rest of the ballet would happen. I describe Fritz as mischievous, fun — kind to the boys, mean to the girls. [Giggles]
NOBU He’s very naughty. Well, actually I mostly agree with that. Just he’s nice to most of the girls just except Marie.
Do you have a little bit of Fritz in you in real life?
NOBU I have an older brother, and sometimes I can be a little annoying, like walk into his room and just stand there and then close the door or leave it open and do some annoying things.
OLIVER I don’t think I have any Fritz in me since I don’t have any siblings.
Well, we all have a little Fritz in us.
OLIVER [Smiles happily]A little.
What’s the most challenging part of Fritz at this point?
NOBU Really just knowing the order of parts. We know all of the parts by heart almost, it’s just we were taught not in order. And that was good because they taught us hardest to easiest. But we can get confused every now and then of where we’re at.
OLIVER Nobu is totally right. I think my thing is for everybody — it’s do big movements even if you think you look weird. Because the stage is so big with so many people, it doesn’t look weird at all.
You watch each other in rehearsal. How do you think you’re different?
OLIVER I don’t know how to say this. When we’re doing the acting, I do things a little bit bigger than you.
NOBU You put a lot of energy.
OLIVER And you’re really good at ballet, so when we’re doing the dancing, you’re a little more graceful.
Do you do other things like physical things? Do you play sports?
NOBU I mean — ballet!
OLIVER I love doing other types of dance. I do this dance team, which is specifically jazz and contemporary, and it’s really fun. I also love to do gymnastics.
NOBU Yeah, I do gymnastics. I don’t really do it like on a team or anything, but for fun, I play soccer a lot at Central Park.
OLIVER Are you going to ask another question that’s like only activities, not just focusing on dance?
We can definitely go there.
OLIVER OK. So other than all that, I love, I love — you’re gonna think this [his usually exuberant voice trails off] — but I love doing math. I’m going to the Johns Hopkins program for math next summer.
That’s amazing! Can we talk about when you break the nutcracker — you hold on tight as you spin and then throw it on the floor. What’s your approach?
NOBU That’s a really important scene, because — nutcracker.
OLIVER The hardest part is probably making it around in time with the music. And spin, spin, spin, spin!
NOBU And also get like the perfect momentum —
OLIVER To look like we actually break it!
NOBU Not to actually break it but look like we are breaking it. But not so soft either.
Who are your favorite dancers?
NOBU Really only one. Like the best dancer of all time: Baryshnikov.
OLIVER Was he a ballet dancer?
NOBU Yeah, he’s like the most famous ballet dancer. I saw him on video because he doesn’t really dance anymore. He’s still alive of course but he’s much older.
Is it irritating that Fritz isn’t in the battle scene?
OLIVER Kind of. I feel like in the background he should be like … [He goes a little wild]
Acting up?
NOBU Yeah! And he should be, like, shocked. And, maybe trying to help.
What do you love about ballet?
NOBU I feel like a bird. You feel graceful. It just feels free. In the ballet studio, all my teachers say that you’re safe in that room. You have nothing else to worry about, just ballet And you just do it.
OLIVER It’s like all the movements are technically knowing how to fly. So once you can do it, you can fly.
NOBU Yeah, it feels like you’re flying. Like walking, you’re like, da da da da. But in ballet, you’re on demi pointe. You feel weightless! You lift your body — the posture, then the balancing. Ballet is really fun. It gets my blood moving.
Gia Kourlas is the dance critic for The Times. She writes reviews, essays and feature articles and works on a range of stories.
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