Radio City Music Hall

I saw the show a few years ago with the kids. It just burns me to pay so much for a decent ticket. I really didn’t think it was worth the money. Perhaps for a one-time thing, but certainly not to make a tradition of it. If you combined all the admissions I paid (or my folks paid, rather) for the show PLUS a movie back in the ‘70’s, the aggregate would still not be as much as a single 1st Tier ticket to today’s production!

In 1980, after the Hall had ceased its old show & film format, the top ticket to the Christmas Spectacular was just $11.50 – half the top price for a Broadway ducat at the time. I think the top ticket today is just over $100, after fees and surcharges – about what you’d pay for a typical Broadway show – so at leats it’s not as bad as it was a few years ago when the pricing scheme went almost to $200 for the best seats!

Thanks RCDTJ, I must wonder who the “genius” was who made that decision. The great organ in that “Hark the Angels” piece is a big loss to the number. I can still hear it in my head from the good ole days.

hank, no, thst musta have ben some other gumba :)
By the way, does anyone know if either of the organs are beeing used in ther Christmas show?. I have not seen the show live as yet, however on the TV showing they seemed not to be used at all.
I realised it when during the Nativity scene at the end, I remember the organ being a major part of “Hark the Angels Sing”. The great organ sound would reseneate through the hall during that piece, always giving me goose bumps.

hank, the live orchestra was there, you can see the conductor waving his batton in a few shots, plus the lights the orchestra members use to see the sheet music can be seen as ewell.

The NBC Special on Music Hall what a treat to see so much of the theater used,wonderful use of the main curtain, which is almost always missing from shows broadcast from there! All 36 Rocketts,all three elevators with more elevators perched upon them,the old plastic ice rink with skaters,and although I couldn’t see the camels in the Nativity scene I’m told they are still used in the show. Also four shows were taped to assemble the hour long program that we saw. One of the reasons for multiple tapings was to achieve as many different camera placements as possible. Loved the digital backgrounds to help the double decked bus take us around New York. I’m guessing the Bus was self battery propelled. One must guess that a live orchestra is not present for the show .

I am generally opposed to lip-syncing at any type of live performance. When I go to a live concert or a Broadway show, I expect to hear the performers singing LIVE not lipsyncing to pre-recorded tape. However, I really don’t consider the Radio City Christmas Show to be a live concert or a Broadway production, so I don’t hold the show to that same standard. I agree with Bob Endres and Vito… There’s just no way you can expect a group of precision dancers to tap and kick around the vast RCMH stage without getting winded. I’ve seen video clips of singers who have (bravely) sang live while performing energetic dance routines (Madonna and J-Lo come to mind) and the vocal performance suffered miserably as a result. In a show as highly polished and as filled with glitzy artifice as the RCMH Xmas spectacular, I think I’d give the producers a pass for utilizing a pre-recorded track. Had it been my professional choice to make, I think I’d have eliminated the need for lip-syncing entirely by simply having the music exist as a soundtrack to the Rockettes' number and would not have attempted to create the illusion that it was the dancers who were singing the lyrics. I hasten to add that my acceptance of the practice is limited to the big dance line. I do not condone the use of lip-syncing to pass for what should be a live non-dancing vocal performance. And I’m not particularly fond of using pre-recorded tap sounds for a live dance routine – unless live micing is truly not a technical feasibility.

Oh my, as far as this subject goes, I am done here

Thanks Bob for those thoughts. From a technical stand point, it seems to me, that the pre-recording is an asset to the performance.

Some additional thoughts about pre-records:

In the first place, pre-recording has been going on for years. When you saw Astaire and Rogers dancing and singing, they were working to “Playback” of recordings made on the music scoring stage. On set recording wouldn’t be of high enough quality to use and would reflect any “thumps” and extraneous noise on the stage. Indeed, these days ADR (automated dialogue replacement) is used extensively in most features even when the performances on done on a studio soundstage. Location sound has obvious disadvantages. The Rockettes are precision dancers primarily, and again, who says they aren’t really singing or doing it as satisfactorily as any Broadway performers? While I feel that the audio mixes for live performances are often over-miked and over-loud, they are what this generation has come to expect in terms of performance audio sound.

Secondly, it would be hard to get enough radio frequencies to mic 36 Rockettes individually, nor is it possible to use mics to adequately cover their movements across the whole stage, given that its a block wide and about 60' deep. In the original Hall audio operation there were five “rising” mikes that came up out of the floor to pre-set heights for solo performers. They were also used to pick up the sound of the Rockettes taps, but not vocals. In later years “Riverdance” and “Lord of the Dance” had mikes with R.F. transmitters placed in some of the dancer’s shoes to pick up the sound of their dancing, but even then some of the sound of their dancing was pre-recorded. Its possible to mic solo performers, but again getting 36 mics is a bit much. And beside, who would want to see the Rockettes wearing those annoying little boom mics that hang on the ear like a telephone headset? I’ll take a little artifice anyday.

I have noticed some lip-synching at Broadway shows as well. When did this become acceptable? Radio City should be ashamed for presenting kicking amateurs.

Although it is difficult to sing and dance at the same time thousands of real talents have done so for years. This is just another case of audiences demanding less for more money.

With so many talented unemployed singers and dancers out there Radio City should do better. If a Rockette cannot be consistent enough at every performance she has no business on stage. If a dancer can’t sing she should keep her mouth shut. Those who pay top dollar to see pop stars lip-synching in large arenas are simply paying for being in their presence.

I expect more for my money.

There used to be a bowling alley across the street from Radio City?

Never heard a comment like that before. I have gotten nothing but great reviews about the show. Bob is right. It’s hard to dance and sing at the same time without losing your breath. As far as I know, all of the Rockettes audio is taped now. I personally don’t have a problem with that. I think a lot of the audience knows that they are lip syncing it.

That’s Show Business! Actually, I’m not sure that the Rockettes don’t do their own singing. The problem with all the singing done during the show is that it’s difficult to sing and dance at the same time across a stage that big without running out of breath. When I was there all of the vocal numbers, except those actually being performed by soloists were pre-recorded in the recording studio which was designed to by Roxy’s broadcast studio. Its not so much a case of deception (although in a sense that’s the basis for a lot of theatrical illusion) as practicallity.