By Alexandra Pecci
Correspondent

Tap dancers, beboppers, and hip hoppers infiltrate “Clara’s Dream: A Jazz Nutcracker,” a tap-jazz reimagining of the classic ballet, which is playing this year at The Music Hall in Portsmouth.

“It’s sort of a coming of age story,” says Drika Overton, artistic director and producer of the show by MaD Theatricals.

Clara is bound by a classical household and especially by the expectations of Father, played by dancing legend Paul Draper.

“She’s a teenager wanting to break out from her traditional background and jazz really speaks to her,” Overton said.

Breaking out happens courtesy of a “wily, groovy auntie,” Overton says, played by another legend, tap dancer Brenda Bufalino. Her aunt gives Clara a gift, the Jazz Nut who comes to life and helps her sneak into a jazz club.

The second act of Clara’s Dream features a series of dances that turns the classical ballet on its head. Among them are the “Sugar Plum Fairy Tango” and a “Funky Russian,” jazzed up versions of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker themes.

“She sneaks into the club with Auntie and watches all this magical, cool, hip dancing going on,” Overton said. “She finally has her epiphany; she has her day in the sun, and then at the end, well, it’s a surprise.”

‘Clara’s Dream’ was conceived 10 years ago when Overton was inspired to create a show based on Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s jazz version of “The Nutcracker Suite.”

Overton’s vision required taking “this very familiar story of ‘The Nutcracker’ and putting the jazz and tap twist on it.” She received a grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and created the show, along with Paul Arslanian, a composer who wrote a score based on the Tchaikovsky and Ellington themes.

There’s a live, six-piece jazz band onstage during the show, which is integrated with the performance, such as when they become a Salvation Army marching band that marches through the house. Audiences are often able to pick out the traditional Nutcracker themes in the music, but not always.

“Some of them are really obvious, like the ‘Sugar Plum Fairy Tango.’ You can’t really miss the melody there,” Overton said. An Arabian theme is trickier.

The show was staged for the first time in 2000, appearing at The Music Hall and throughout the Northeast until it went on hiatus in 2006. Now it’s back and being independently produced.

Since it’s not produced every year, now’s a great chance for audiences to see the show with its current cast, which includes dancers ranging in age from 13 to 78 and featuring performers from New York, Boston, and other areas.

One of those dancers is Leo Lamontagne, 27, of Lawrence, who is appearing for the first time in “Clara’s Dream” with several roles as a member of the ensemble. In the first act, he plays “the kid who’s the big man on campus,” and in the second act, he’s a sailor. He thinks audiences will be pleasantly surprised when they see the show.

“The live music onstage is just to die for,” he said. “I think they’ll like the classic feel of ‘The Nutcracker,’ with a twist. There’s an extra spunk in our show that is just so much fun.”

Overton, who also plays Clara’s mother, says the show also teaches audiences about the interconnectedness of jazz and jazz tap, and often speaks to people who previously have claimed not the be “jazz people.”

“I don’t think we’ve ever not got gotten a standing ovation,” she said. “It’s just such a joyous way to celebrate the holidays. It’s really an uplifting and exciting production in every way.”

If you go
What: “Clara’s Dream: A Jazz Nutcracker.”
Where: The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth.
When: 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 17 and Friday, Dec. 18; 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 20.
How: Tickets are $30 and $38. Visit www.themusichall.org or call 603-436-2400.