Rockette Toy Solider Costume

The lyrics for "Let Christmas Shine" from the Radio City Christmas Spectacular have been transcribed and we have a midi for a baseline orchestration, so we're going to make a mega collab fancover as there isn't much confirmed for RoH for the holiday season!

The Rockettes - Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular

It is not based on Height. Just accept that the others deserved it

I’m in no way saying the others didn’t deserve it they did 100% they are incredible - I was just saying that within the ‘top 6’ photo, the 3 shortest girls got picked - fully deserving, they are fabulous ballerinas. It was merely an observation, not hate in any way ❤️🩰

"The Rockettes"

can you imagine an alternate universe where billzo didn’t drop out of dance school to become a minecraft streamer

Jonathan L. Lane

taking relentless severe psychic damage from watching several hours of videos of television commercial advertisements from the United States in December 1999.

a world-historical moment, an all-time high peak of self-assured smirking arrogance.

ascendant home computers and internet modems. a new millennium! a time after Cold War but before Nining Leven, with saxophone-playing heads of state and cheery Spielbierg-ian sentimentality attempting to plaster over 1970s/1980s disappointments and hangovers with renewed millennarian End-Of-History optimism.

come celebrate with us! look at these images of The Nation! from sparkling Times Square and the cast of "Friends" in bustling cosmopolitan New York City, to sunny Californian prosperity, to those cartoonish frogs in the quasi-mythical Deep South-ish rural periphery of Budweiser ads, and all the suburban Midwestern Kay's Jeweler's in between! planetary hegemony. "Head east from the Colosseum, across the ruts of chariots, and you'll find an imperial estate built by a second-century Caesar. It's a rough ride. And if the agile and durable Chevy Tracker can handle these ancient roads, driving back home will be a walk in the park. Chevy Tracker: It Gets Around!"

or perhaps "our" power extends beyond this terrestrial imperium, into space, conquering the stars. UFOs; space aliens; The X-Files; Independence Day; Space Jam; Men in Black; the Phoenix Lights; Coast to Coast AM on the radio; Space Command in Colorado Springs.

the anxious fragility belied by the desperate constant promotion of an almost religious dedication to recognizable icons.

talking chihuahuas, marketing jingles, annual football game events. self-referential circular cross-promotion maelstrom.

"An all-new holiday spectacular, a Christmas special destined to become a family classic! With music from REM's Michael Stipe, voiced by Ally McBeal's Peter MacNicol, and starring Drew Barrymore! It's Olive the Other Reindeer! At 8/7 Central Fox Friday!"

trying to insist that this "classic" cultural iconography binds us. it has always lived in your heart. fabricating in real-time a supposedly shared history, insisting on this "reality" even at the moment of its very creation. hammering away at the soul.

Daffy Duck saunters in and pronounces: "Eat your way into the new millennium with this 'gigundo' party sub from Subway!"

why aren't you smiling?

Samuel Lee Roberts, NYC dance project.

"I began my dance training under the direction of Kathleen Johnston. I attended The Juilliard School. I have worked with Corbin Dances and Keigwin + Company, and was a founding member of Battleworks Dance Company. In May 2006 I was named Dance Magazine’s “On the Rise” dancer. From 2000-2004 I was a cast member of “The Radio City Christmas Spectacular”. I recently retired from a decade of being a Principal Dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Theatre."

from an interview with joe iconis about the christmas extravaganza 🎄🎄🎄

"…So for those of us who haven't seen it, or have only seen, like, the videos and clips and stuff, can you explain what exactly the Joe Iconis Christmas Extravaganza is?"

"I can, yeah. So, it is a, um—it is basically a full-blown Christmas musical that is pretending to be a Christmas concert. It is an extravaganza that is inspired by things like, uh, the Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas special, things like the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, things like Charles Busch's Times Square Angel—y'know, I grew up really loving Christmas and I love the, um—I—I've always loved the—the conceit of the Christmas special. Y'know, this thing like, where, um, y'know, characters you perhaps know, characters you don't, get to mingle and, uh, exist in this kind of, like, capsule that's solely about the, uh, trappings of the holiday. And so, this is a show that is really irreverent, it's, yknow, very wild, uh, and it's, like, slightly profane, but: it has a real, uh, a real heart to it, y'know. It's made by people who have a love of, uh, not just the holidays, but of, y'know, theatre and family and, um, yeah. So it just kind of feels like a really, y'know, insane, uh, Christmas party, um, that's, uh, y'know, that's just filled with, uh, seventy of your—your closest friends and enemies." 🌰🌰🌰

"How do you do this, do you just do, like, an open invitation to everybody in your contacts, or is it, like, everybody in your close friend circle, do you just say, like, 'Come one, come all, we'll figure out something for you to do'?"

"There's, um, it is—it is the most specific casting experience there could ever possibly be. It's actually—the only way that this show works is if it is cast, uh, within an inch of its life. There's nothing left to chance, there's nothing casual about it. It, um, and the casting—the casting, uh, organization that we use for the Christmas Extravaganza is the, uh, the Joe Iconis Casting Services? Um, just me, uh, y'know, asking specific people, um, because everyone has a different part, the size of everyone's parts are really different, and so it's the kind of thing where I'm, like, 'Okay. I know that AJ can do the show this year, but he's not really available for our five rehearsals, and so I'm gonna write something for AJ that, if he can't make any rehearsal, he can just read it from a card. Like, that character will have to be some kind of announcer.' It's, like, that kind of thing, y'know, it's, like, 'Oh, um, y'know, this person has a ton of availability to rehearse this year, so they're gonna get a huge part,' uh, and everyone who's in the show is someone who is, like, they all have to be great actors, they all have to be, um, uh, good to great singers, they all have to be willing to dance, […] and then we need, like, four people who are really good at dancing, y'know, um, a few people who are willing to, like, wear something skimpy, y'know, a few people who are willing to wear, like, full-body costumes where you can't even see their face—it's a very strange, specific thing, um, but it's just what makes the show the show, and so our—we have a cast of fifty at each—at each performance. Uh, and it's not the same cast at each show: there are some people who do all six, some people do five, some people do one, y'know—and so it's this really mind-exploding, uh, carousel of actors—to rehearse it is a, uh, it is a feat which, uh, I've never—never experienced. And, y'know, I've worked at all, um, at all levels of the theatre, I'm really used to, like, makin', y'know, ragtag theatre in basements, and do-it-yourself stuff, and obviously I've done shows on Broadway and the West End and I've had shows in Tokyo, and, uh, there's just nothing that compares to the level of—of, uh, stress, uh, and, uh, and talent, and just, like, y'know, the diggin' in your—your heels kinda work, uh, that is required to make this Christmas Extravaganza as extravagant as it is." 🎭🎭🎭

"…Over the years, we've had a few—y'know, a few rowdy audience members. When we did it in 2019, there were these two guys, who—it was so weird, they, um, they were very—they were very conservative Republicans, uh, who came to the show, and, uh, they were really drunk, I don't know why they came." ["On accident? Did they—did they stumble in the—?"] "No! They—it was actu—I mean, the honest reason was that one of them really liked the song 'The Goodbye Song,' which is a song that I wrote, and so they came to the show, um, uh, because they liked this one song, which is performed in the show, and, uh, but they also—they were like, young, it was very strange, and they were, um, and they were—they were so drunk, and they were just the world's worst audience members, and, um, and I—I had them thrown out, right, and so I—which is really hard, 'cause I'm onstage the whole two hours, and I was like, 'These guys—they're outta here,' and so, y'know, I—I passed on a—a, y'know, a whis—it was like a whisper campaign through the theater, one of the—y'know, the people told the stage manager, and like, they had to get 54 and eject these guys. And so they went to throw 'em out, and one of them ran into the bathroom. To like, hide. And he was like, 'You're not gettin' me!' Like, all during the show, right, so that like—this like, young, drunk, conservative Republican runs into the bathroom to hide, like, barricades himself in there, and so then 54 Below is like, 'Um, I guess we have to like, call the cops or something? 'Cause this guy won't leave the bathroom.' And so eventually people went in and like dragged this guy outta the bathroom, and my favorite thing is that as he was—as he was being dragged out of 54 Below, and like, up the stairs? Um, the stairs, and, like, all the nooks and crannies of the space is where, like, everyone who is in the Christmas Extravaganza, um, y'know, waits. And so he had to go through, like, the sexy Virgin Mary! And literal Santa Claus. And, y'know, reindeers as he's being dragged out. And then all of them just, like, barricaded the door so he wouldn't come back in, and it's like, this is, like, this is what Christmas means to me. Y'know? Having—having some rowdy audience member get thrown out of a—of a nightclub on 54th Street by the—the icons of Christmas, y'know?" 🎅🎅🎅

"…Do you have a favorite Christmas special, or anything like that, whether it's something that influenced this or not, just something that you hold dear to yourself?"

"Well, I love, um, I—I already mentioned it, but I love the Pee-wee Playhouse Christmas special, I—I think it's really the top of the tops. Uh, I love Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, uh, which also really heavily influenced this, and as far as Christmas episodes of shows, I really think the '80s were the, um, that was kind of like the peak of the Christmas episode to me, and so, uh, the—for people who love—who love Christmas episodes, the ALF Christmas episode is a really, uh, famed one, um, because it is so unspeakably depressing? Um, so I—I like the—I like the tension of a—of a show that's basically for kids with a Christmas episode that's just about children dying. Uh, in a very horrible way. Um, so yeah, I love—those are all—those are all good one—y'know, just could keep going. But also Christmas movies, too! Y'know, I'm just such a sucker for a Christmas movie, I love the great ones, I love the bad ones, um, y'know, the Hallmark Christmas movies, they're fun, they're a little bit, like, samey for me? But like, I love a Christmas with the Kranks, I love The Family Stone, I love anything that's, like, taking groups of people and putting them in a house together, and—and, uh, y'know, adding like, fuel to the fire, and so there—there's elements of all of these things in the—in the Christmas Extravaganza." ❄️❄️❄️

Radio City Music Hall 1939, Truman Library image 2017-2262.

#OTD 1932: Radio City Music Hall opens! By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

Radio City Music Hall opened at the height of the Great Depression as a “palace for the people.” 

Billionaire John D. Rockefeller, Jr., made the theater the cornerstone of his Rockefeller Complex in midtown Manhattan. The Rockettes’ Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, which debuted in 1933, remains the big draw, attracting more than a million people annually. 

Skaters Enjoy Radio City’s Skating Rink March 1940, NARA ID 135803660.

RADIO CITY SOLOMON ISLANDS? In World War II, soldiers serving on the Solomon Islands renamed their open-air theater  “Radio City Guadalcanal: The Mosquito Network.”

U.S. Air Force images 1944 NARA IDs 204986701 and 204990023.

A Holiday Spectacular - November 27th on Hallmark Channel

In 1958, Maggie is an heiress from Philadelphia who puts her high-society wedding plans on hold in order to sneak up to New York City and make her secret dream come true: dancing live on stage in the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. Stars Ginna Claire Mason, Derek Klena, Eve Plumb, Ann-Margret, and features the Radio City Rockettes.

I wonder what Ellary Day’s mom was talking about then? - I hope Ellary Day won’t be too tall next year to audition..

So pleased for the other girls though! 👏👏👏

Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for the Rockettes. Radio City Music Hall was designed by Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style.

Radio City Music Hall was built on a plot of land that was originally intended for a Metropolitan Opera House, although plans for the opera house were canceled in 1929. It opened on December 27, 1932, as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center. The 5,960-seat Music Hall was the larger of two venues built for Rockefeller Center's "Radio City" section, the other being Center Theatre; the "Radio City" name later came to apply only to the Music Hall. It was largely successful until the 1970s, when declining patronage nearly drove the theater to bankruptcy. Radio City Music Hall was designated a New York City Landmark in May 1978, and it was restored and allowed to remain open. The theater was extensively renovated in 1999.

Radio City's four-tiered auditorium was the world's largest when it opened. The theater also contains a variety of art. Although Radio City Music Hall was initially intended to host stage shows, within a year of its opening it was converted into a movie palace, hosting performances in a film-and-stage-spectacle format through the 1970s, and was the site of several movie premieres. By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, it primarily hosted concerts, including by leading pop and rock musicians, and live stage shows such as the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. The Music Hall has also hosted televised events including the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, the Daytime Emmy Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, the NFL Draft, as well as graduation ceremonies for New York University and Barnard College.

The @EmpireStateBldg Glowing in Red and Green tonight with @rockettes in Celebration of the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular Opening Night.

📸 by Dan Martland @DanTVusa

Think about it. Radio City Christmas Spectacular is a Broadway show, there is absolutely no way that they don't provide costumes.

Also what do you mean with "at least, not to the Clara's, since they don't keep them"? Like yeah if they don't keep the costume, it probably means that the show provides (=owns) the costume

I meant the production doesn't keep them, not the Clara's. Of course, it's possible that Radio City does provide them, I wouldn't know 🤷‍♀️