A Bay Area holiday favorite, Mark Morris’s “The Hard Nut,” returns to Zellerbach Hall in on the UC Berkeley campus Dec. 11–13 and Dec. 17–20.

Morris updates E.T.A. Hoffmann’s classic fairy tale, the basis for The Nutcracker ballet, by setting it in the swingin’ 70s with dancing Barbie dolls, go-go boots, G.I. Joe soldiers, leaping snowflakes, inspired gender-bending casting plus 93 costume changes, more than 60 set pieces and props including 20 pounds of confetti for the hilarious “Waltz of the Snowflakes” scene, all set to Tchaikovsky’s glorious score.

“The Hard Nut” takes its title from “The Nutcracker and the Mouseking,” the slightly sinister fairy-tale plot of Hoffmann’s original story-within-a-story: The evil Rat Queen, who has disfigured young Princess Pirlipat, offers an all-but-impossible challenge: The girl will regain her beauty if a young man can crack the “hard nut” with his teeth. Drosselmeier, the kind family friend, searches the world over and finds the hidden nut 15 years later back at home, where a suitor who is up to the challenge finally emerges.

“The Hard Nut” premiered in Belgium in 1991. It was Morris’s farewell gift to his European hosts before stepping down as director of dance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, the national opera house of Belgium. The production was greeted with unanimous critical acclaim and uproarious applause.

Cal Performances presented the West Coast premiere of “The Hard Nut” in December 1996.

Maestro Robert Cole will conduct the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s complete “Nutcracker” ballet score. The Children of the Piedmont Choirs Ensemble, under the direction of Robert Geary, once again lend their angelic voices.

Tickets for “The Hard Nut” are $36, $48 and $62 and are available through the Cal Performances Ticket Office at Zellerbach Hall, (510) 642-9988 or www.calperformances.net.

“An Evening with Mark Morris” is Dec. 16 at the Pacific Film Archive. Beginning at 7 p.m., three films will be introduced by Mark Morris: 

• “Cello Suite #3: Falling Down Stairs” (1997), the Emmy-winning documentary about Mark Morris Dance Group’s first collaboration with cellist Yo-Yo Ma;

• Charlie Chaplin’s “The Rink” (1916);

• Vincente Minnelli’s “Cabin in the Sky” (1943).

For the evening’s schedule and tickets, call (510) 642-5249. This is presented by Cal Performances in association with the Pacific Film Archive.