Radio City Music Hall
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
118 people
favorited this theater
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WBNA liberty basketball has been on the great stage live – i think boxing also (?) althought that is usually at the wamu. The panasonic screen has not been used for television, though i think every guy who watched the christmas show has thought in the middle of the show what it would be like to watch the super bowl on that screen.
That’s too bad….have they showed a Super Bowl at the Music Hall? Or another sporting event? The only ones I can think of are the NFL Draft and that’s it. I think Cablevision is doing a better job profiting from Radio City than MSG, whose teams are in the dumps!!! As for that other theater, which is not a cinema treasure but located near the Garden, the Wamu (nee Paramount) Theater at the Garden is a decent playhouse known for showing the Xmas Carol show, which sadly is no longer playing there.
Four or five years ago, The landlord of the Harlem Warehouse did not renew lease – the property was sold to a developer who was going to build a condominium. It was for the best. The property was not cared for by landlord, unheated , many items lost to water damage.
How do they get these figures? Is it the star with the most films or the most weeks at the Music Hall or a combination? What about Audrey Hepburn and Doris Day? They should both be on the top 10 if memory serves me.
I have a question to ibnybill. You say that the show will be stored upstate this year. Do you know what happened to the wherehouse they had uptown I think in Harlem?
What a history for the RCMH. Sadly, because of the now high price for tickets, I haven’t visited since the 70’s. I miss when they showed a feature film with a great stage show. Now, films are not shown and the greedy owners charge an outrageous price for tickets. As a kid, we got-in for 75cents before noon on weekdays. We even got a program. Great memories. Some films that played here but were not mentioned I believe were: “The Ugly Dachshund” and “If It’s Tuesday, It Must be Belgium” with the late Suzanne Pleshette, “Arabesque”,“Interrupted Melody”, “Teahouse of the August Moon”, “Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?”. I think “The Singing Nun” was already mentioned. The expert who said that Greer Garson had the most films played at RCMH I disagree with. I would think that either Audrey Hepburn or Doris Day had the most films.
The bus is here to stay. David – good eye on the 36 rox up from 30 used previous years. the show will be stored in upstate NY this year – not sure where
I just noticed that Edward Durrell Stone was the architect of both Radio City and The Center Theater. Radio City, of course, is one of the most beautiful theater palaces ever built and The Center appeared to be a stunner as well. It appears that Stone did not design any other theaters (according to my architect search on CT). I wonder why not. I assume both of these theaters (certainly Radio City) were universally acclaimed by architecture critcs at the time. I would assume that Edward Durrell Stone would have been deluged with theater commission offers. I guess the depression would have greatly dampened the demand, but nonetheless, I still find it surprising that he never designed another theater. Any insights are appreicated.
I had the pleasure of seeing the Christmas Show on 12/27, being in the theater at the moment when they opened the doors for the first time in 1932. It was great to see the show “spruced up”. I enjoyed the new numbers, paricularly the way they keep the Rockettes current while honoring the past. I liked the restaging of the “Rag Doll” nummber to accomodate a full Rockette line of 36. I was also happy to see a restaged Nativity and that it did NOT close the show. The curtain call finale was a nice touch. I don’t quite understand why “Wooden Soldiers” is being performed in front of a blue screen or “starfield” backdrop as it has the last two seasons. I would love to see some of the old scenery. Is the scenery still stored in Weehauken, NJ? It was a great show this year; congratulations to all involved.
Thanks for that info, it sure looked like the ole traveler, did it not?. Oh well, maybe someday it will return. Darn shame the Hall had to suffer the embarrassment of so many failures with the bus. Quite frankly, I thought the routine was fun to look at but rather boring, all that waving and posing etc.
As for the film portion of the show, let us all hope for a return of all five projectors being used next year. Sometimes it’s just better to stick with what works. So, fire the bus and bring back projection. Ahem, at least the ole rear screen projector worked :))
I am sure you have Bob’s blessing in keeping us up to date on the backstage/booth goings on. I for one loved hearing Bob’s old war stories and look forward to yours.
Well, the curtain used at the beginning of the wooden soldier scene is actually one of the scrims that we used to project “Marshmallow Moon” in years past. The tour bus was a pain in the ass. The whole front fell off during one show. There were many other mechanical problems during other shows which prevented it from coming out on stage. One time during a turn, it stopped and the Rockettes had to dance around it. During breaks I would here them talking about “another problem with the bus” over the box. It was funny at times. I am hoping also that some of the other projection will return next year. I am pretty sure the 3-D is safe. And as far as filling Bob’s shoes, they are pretty big to fill but I will do my best.
I also forgot to mention in my post above that one of my favorite parts of the show was the mini history lesson on the History of the Music Hall. It actually brought a tear to my eye when they talked about how close the Hall came to being closed forever back in ‘78. Luckily it was saved, literally at the last minute and many generations to come will be able to enjoy this grand theater as we have.
After the show, I walked outside and tried to imagine what it would have been like to have had not just Radio City, but The Roxy down the Street and The Capitol one block away. All with a minimum of 5,000 seats and all with stage shows. All within a single block! Radio City is truly the last of its kind. Since it is the last theater in the world that still presents a stage show, it is the last theater where a patron can truly imagine what it must have been like way back when. The only disappointment is that they don’t have periodic movie engagements.
Great post Luis, nice to hear your thoughts.
RCDTJ, A curtain is in use I wondered about. One scene where you see it used is at the start of the Wooden Soldiers, it looks very much like the old travelor that was removed a few years back for a Disney show. The curtain went up as the Rockeete’s filed in, Althogh it went up instead of opening like a traveler, I wondered if they put the original traveler curtain back in for the show.
It looks like the tour bus was difficult from a technical point of view. It must have been awful went it fouled up.
I am keping my fingers crossed for sosme of the projection in the show to be put back in and sure hope the 70mm 3-D remains as well.
Please keep us posted. After Bob left the Hall I was afraid we were not going to be kept up to date on the goings on there. Thankfully you came along to fill Bob’s shoes. His posts were/are some of the most informative and educational we have here at CT.
Luis, I’m glad you liked the 3-D. Don’t expect to see the tour bus again next year though. There were problems after problems with it the whole time. I too think it is worth the money seeing. I probably saw it over 200 times this year and I would take my kids to see it. I do miss some of the scenes from previous years though.
I just saw the show last night, and I respectfully disagree with the old Rockette who was disappointed. I thought it was the best Christmas show that I’ve seen Radio City in the last three decades. The 3D sleigh ride is fun and the stalwart March of the Wooden Soldiers was masterfully performed. The show’s tour bus number was a pretty amazing technical feat and the dancing Santas was great fun. The show had fireworks on stage, snow falling over the audience and, of course, the incredible Living Nativity scene (yes, with camels). We took our 12 year old niece and she was captivated by the performance. By the way, it was nice to see both organs playing before and after the show.
For me, it is definaitely worth the $100 ticket; especially when I compare it to a Broadway show where orchestra seats are between $110 and $120.
Oldjoe, you sound very much like Cineplex Odeon management just before we went bankrupt.
I can’t be the only person to notice that anyone actually SAW the show this year is recommended it on this post, and the only detractors are people who didn’t see the show this year.
An old rockette saw it did not like it, i saw it ten years ago and did not like it, it is too expensive, well maybe its not that expensive but still won’t go, and the best one yet – i don’t like parades LOL !!! but you still want to know if there are camels, or do they still play organ….or is there still an orchestra ….HA HA HA
OK …the people who like the show will go and we will tell all the others who want NOTHING to do with show EVERYTHING about it
case closed
Well attendance definitely wasn’t lacking this year. The show did very well. I would definitely spend my money and bring my kids.
Talking to a friend of mine who was a Rockette in the late 50’s. She was also in MUSIC MAN and MOST HAPPY FELLA. She told me she attended the Christmas show two weeks ago and was very dissapointed. Not worth the money. While it wasn’t terrible by any means, she was just not happy with the performance or staging. She realizes things do change over the years, but she said this would be the last time she would attend. Even living in Conneticuit, it wasn’t worth the trip. Now this is from someone who PERFORMED AT THE HALL for over a year. Interesting, especially after reading all of the pro and cons from the previous comments.
For those of you who may have missed it, the Christmas Spectacular, shown on NBC last week, is being repeated on Bravo,
Monday 12/24 and Tuesday 12/25
Thanks for that historic ad, Warren. Note the difference in billing between Astaire and Ginger Rogers. This was their first film toghether and they had obviously not yet been established as the celebrated dancing team that would go on to co-star in nine subsequent films for RKO and (for their swan song) MGM.
Thank you REndres for answering the mysteries of the side soundproof booths at RCMH I’ve pondered about for years. It’s my favorite magic theater in the World. Many years ago I was fortunate enough to be given a one person tour of Music Hall by then Rockette Carol Harbich who showed me around during her break time. We wound up in the office of Scenic Designer John Keck who let me scan the bound books of past stageshows in his office while viewing the marvelous model of the Hall with mechnical minature elevators. For a final treat I ask Carol if she would kiss me on my cheek in the middle of the turntable while 6,000 people watched the feature film. As you know you can see the audience faces brightly lit by the screens illumination through the perforated holes from behind the screen, but of course the patrons couldn’t see us. Carol complyed and that was my one shining moment in Camelot!!!! Then I treated her to lunch at Toot Shors (twas a resonable tab as well) and I’ve since learned that Toot’s landlady was Queen Elizabeth . Apparently the Royal Family owns the structure in NYC. Thanks again, Until soon,Hank
lbnybill… it’s great if you live or work in the City and can get to the RCMH box office to get tickets and avoid tickemaster’s exorbitant fees. But for a lot of folks living out of Manhattan, or more than a quick subway ride away, you’re pretty much stuck with the added expense. Again… I didn’t mean to turn this into a back and forth argument. It is merely a matter of personal taste and opinion as to the show’s merits and value. For me, I was disappointed when I saw the show a few years back. I found it sagged in parts and was overly long for the attention span of an average pre-teen child. I’m almost positive that the pricing scheme was much higher a few years back, but perhaps I’m wrong. I would agree that at $100 a ticket – particularly at $70 on a weekday – the price seems fair enough in comparison to the cost of other live entertainments in NYC. Perhaps the show has been much-improved over the last couple of years and my evaluation might be different if I took in the latest edition. I just haven’t had a desire to check back on it and the kiddies haven’t been exactly begging for a return trip! They’re much more excited about the New Shanghai Circus show at the New Victory Theatre next week (top tickets for members at $35 apiece). Maybe next year!
If it too expensive for your taste – fine that is your opinion. If you doesn’t like cheaper options…ok I Personally , i like 3rd mezz.
The point is don’t complain that your seat is over $100 when you can the exact same seat on different day for 30% less and 40% less when you include ticketmaster. That is choice that people make for conveinence, and you pay for that conveinence, and it was obviously worth the money to them at time or they would not have paid it ….there are other options , other choices, certainly better choices than going on and on about it here ….
As far as Young Frankenstein, I’ll wait for two-fers, that is my choice . If they don’t come, I ’ll rent the movie….probably funnier anyway
I think some of you are missing the point.
I will happily pay $120 to see the new musical YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN or repeat a classic show like A CHORUS LINE from a good orchestra seat. I will also gladly pay up to $100 for the urgency and suspense of a Yankee game.
I will not pay $20 per seat to see what I recall as akin to watching the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade in from a bad seat at Yankee stadium. It is just not good value for money.
In my opinion, for a suburban family of four the RCMH Christmas show, Broadway musical and live sports are no longer reasonably priced. The latter two can survive without families.