Friday, November 30, 2018
25 Things You Didn’t Know About the Christmas Spectacular (and the Rockettes!)
The Rockettes: The Christmas Spectacular is a holiday tradition unlike any other—from watching us Rockettes perform time-honored classic dance numbers (“Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” anyone?!) to Santa Claus taking you on a 3-D sleigh ride while Radio City Music Hall turns into an immersive winter wonderland—it’s a 90-minute extravaganza that’s sure to put fans of all ages in the Yuletide spirit.
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Christmas in New York would not be complete without the Rockettes and Radio City Music Hall. I have never been to New York around Christmas Time, but even from a young age I know about the Rockettes and their famous routines. As someone who only knows a little about this whole endeavor, I got to learn about these extravagant show. This article was actually super informative, because most of what I see are impressive, glitzy photos, so I'm sure these facts are even more meaningful for those who have seen the show. I expected to see a large number of materials and people for this show but what I did not expect was that this show alone uses 36 digital projectors. I was on media crew for WOW and I think there were like five, so I cannot even begin to imagine the creative possibilities with that kind of technology. Especially because media is finding itself more and more in theatrical shows, it's exciting to see it utilized, especially in such a classic tradition. Another surprising fact was about the cheeks. I've been my fair share of soldiers in ballet pieces, and you gotta have those red cheeks, but I had no idea that for the Rockettes they weren't painted on. I guess that makes sense considering how many pieces they do, and how efficient they have to be between numbers.
To the average eye, this is an incredibly well done marketing article to show off the great and exciting “insider” peek at the Radio City Rockettes and their Christmas spectacular. To those of us who know what it takes to do these kinds of performances it is an enlightening look at what it must cost in order to put on this show. If you take Brian Russman’s Costume Management class, he was an Associate Designer for the Rockettes for a time, and shares some paperwork made to help track the costumes for the 80 dancers he helped clothe. The Rockettes are no small production, obviously, but some of the details in here help point to costs that one might not expect. Animals on stage in a union house is a huge deal, the handling of those animals is expensive. Plus all those costumes and the specialty shoes that probably get worn through very fast. There are so many moving parts and pieces to the Rockettes that the production team behind it definitely have their hands very full.
I love the Christmas spectacular. It is the first show I ever saw when I went to New York and it is just so magical. Part of the magic is that it is just so big. Every set, costume, and of course the cast is just enormous. Being part of the Santa Claus community the long time Santa Claus in the show is Charles E Hall a native Kentuckian and is an inductee into the Santa Claus Hall of Fame. His physicality and voice as Santa is actually what I base my portrayal on. I also love the fact that there is the new and the old. I would be upset if it never changed, but I would be crushed also if the Nativity and Soldiers were ever tampered with. That being said the 3D sleigh ride, New York at Christmas, and the visit with the brothers to Santa’s workshop have remained unchanged for a decade now, it might be time for a refresh. No matter what they do to it the Radio City CHRISTmas Spectacular will always be a staple of Christmas in NYC.
The radio Christmas specular I think is one the staples of the holiday season in New York. No matter where you go I think everyone has heard of the Christmas specular. I have seen this once my freshman year of high school and it is a totally different experience than any other show. Everyone in the audience is taking pictures and filming while they have these huge camels coming through the theatre! In our costume management class, Brian use to be an assoc. designer on the production and he showed us some of the paperwork. This show is so planned out that each minute is tracked with who is on stage what they are wearing and all other design elements. They do such a great job of tracking that they have certain moments down to the seconds. While I do not think you need to see every year, I think it’s important that everyone sees this show at least once in their lives.
Oh this is just fun! Also very interesting, as I think it can be used as a great marketing tool. Not that there are many people who don't know about the Christmas Spectacular, but I'm glad that Radio City released this so that new and returning audiences alike can get a glimpse behind the curtain and feel like they've been let in on a little secret. As a Stage Manager in theatre, I am always slightly amused that people are so amazed by seeing the behind-the-scenes. To me, it's just backstage. Yes, I still see the magic, but usually I see the entrances and exits, the cues called, the set changes and item tracking. For them, this is really special. And even for people who work in theatre, these numbers are impressive! Just a few thoughts on some of the points brought up:
- I think it's very interesting that we're seeing the extremely modern use of drones over audiences to create a visual effect in a setting where two of their numbers remain unchanged from 1933. That is a smart way of mixing the classic with the new, drawing audiences in with what they know and love, and then wow-ing them with new spectacles.
- The mic'ed shoes astonished me! I am not a sound designer, but do know a bit about paths and how to wire things. This sounds like an incredible feat (ha!), and what even happens when one of them goes out in the middle of a number? Does the A2 replace it backstage or do they just rely on the others working? There are so many moving pieces in this, no wonder it takes 250 people to make it work every performance.
Like I said, a very fun piece and definitely a quick read to get you in the Christmas spirit!
This was such a fun article and gave me so much more information than I would have ever thought to ask about this really amazing show. I had assumed a few of this things, and because I am in theatre things like costume changes and volume and things like that I had considered before, but oh my goodness are they impressive, but there was a lot of information I had not even considered about this show. I found the placement of mics in their shoes to be so amazing and I would really love to see that setup someday, because I have so many questions about how it is protected and what type of microphones they are using. I was also surprised about the animals in the show being real. I know their are a lot of logistics and costs surrounding having live animals onstage, but I imagine the payoff is worth it for this show.
I love this article! It is a really fun way to learn more about the historical Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular! I have personally never seen it, but I got the chance to work with some former Rockettes and asked them about it. Most of the fun facts definitely made sense with the scale of the show; like laundry loads, number of dressers, amount of kicks per day. It was still very cool to see all of the numbers laid out there like that. I think articles like these are really wonderful because they inspire young artists. It shows younger dreamers a big, incredible world that is "The Rockettes". One of my friends from high school has always wanted to be a Rockette and does their summer intensive. I think articles like this are part of what inspire people to dream big. It is a timeless show that always brings cheer to the winter time.
I’m very happy this is my final comment that I will post at CMU, since shadowing the Christmas spectacular at Radio City was one of the things that solidified my interest in working in theatre as a career. The amount of work that goes into each performance of the Christmas spectacular is really insane. There’s a team of about 20 stage managers on the show that all swap out depending on performance, since there are so many performances each day. There’s also a very large pool of Rockettes that swap out as well. They have an entire level in the building that is primarily animal stalls to fit the goats, sheep, camels, etc. that are in the show. The quick changes for those girls are also absolutely bananas. There are so many Rockettes in each performance, and they change outfits for almost every song in the show. I remember being amazed because the stage manager that I was shadowing knew each Rockette by name, even though they all looked pretty much identical to me. The Rockettes and the Radio City Spectacular are a staple of the Christmas season growing up in New Jersey or New York, and it’s really cool that they’re showing more people all of the insane work that has to go into it to make it happen.
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