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The New York Times
theater review
'radio city christmas spectacular'
A Nimble 75-Year-Old
Gets a Little Nip and Tuck
By LAWRENCE VAN
GELDER, nytimes.com on the Web, November 16, 2007
Seventy-five years old and forever
young, “The Radio City Christmas Spectacular” came flying into that Midtown Art
Deco cathedral of entertainment on Tuesday night and went out a Superspectacular.
For its diamond-anniversary incarnation, presented while most of Broadway was
dark because of the stagehands’ strike, the grand old show has been made over,
from terpsichore to technology, kicking and singing into the 21st century while
retaining and refining the glories of the 20th.
These include the magnificent Rockettes, more versatile and saucy than ever; the
breathtaking precision and suspense of “The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers”; and,
of course, Santa Claus, individually (the hearty Charles Edward Hall) and in
vast numbers in the “Here Comes Santa Claus” routine that fills the huge stage
with hordes of hoofing Kriss Kringles.
But fittingly for this age, the updated 90-minute intermissionless show, with
its fireworks, falling snow, flying ribbons, film clips and imaginative
projections and lighting of everything from Christmas decorations to
mid-Manhattan, seems to move at warp speed, while, as always, accompanied by
carols, hymns and seasonal songs played by a live orchestra that occasionally
rises magically from below the stage.
The nips, tucks and revisions still result in a warm and thoughtful embrace of
everything from the introductory 3-D flight of Santa to New York (special
glasses are provided, attached to the program) to the truncated “Nutcracker” and
a reimagined “New York at Christmas,” which puts the Rockettes in snowy white
(with touches of red and green) aboard a double-decker sightseeing bus.
The bus takes them and the audience on a singing, dancing tour of mid-Manhattan
that includes Central Park and ice skaters.
The visit to the North Pole that is the “Magic Is There” number, which has the
Rockettes dressed as rag dolls extending seasonal greetings, has been wisely
shortened and restaged to include a Santa-cynical New York teenager. And
the sparklingly new “Let Christmas Shine,” an anniversary routine, has the
Rockettes in glittering crystal costumes.
Even the reverent “Living Nativity,” which revisits the first Christmas and is
staged with camels, sheep and donkeys, has been trimmed, giving time for a grand
finale that provides the Rockettes and the rest of the cast an opportunity,
after three-quarters of a century, to take the most well earned of bows.
“The Radio City Christmas Spectacular” through Dec. 30 at
Radio City Music Hall; (212) 307-1000.
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