I wanted to go to a Broadway show, my friend wanted to see the Rockette’s Holiday Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.  The Rockettes are for tourists that arrive by the swarm on the buses for the day, I thought.  In over twenty years of visits to the city, even staying at the hotel across the street from Radio City, I never had a yen to see them, ever….but here I was standing in the rain on Saturday afternoon waiting in the ticket line while my friend is texting me the location of his bus and his ETA to the city.

I would buy mezzanine seats for the 10 p.m. show which allowed my friend and I to have time for dinner first. There were a good handful of seats available and with taxes and fees, the tickets were $99 each.  The usher told me that they open the doors an hour ahead to already formed lined on either side of the theatre so I should get here early.  I thought the opposite really, given that we had seats on the aisle, I figured if we arrived 15-20 minutes ahead of curtain the lines would have subsided and it would be an easy entrance (as it was).

Your bag is searched and I was told to discard my water in the trash bin over there.  I won’t lie to you, I pretended to comply as I didn’t want to toss a good, unopened bottle of water only to pay an exorbitant fee for another bottle of water (this is where the Catholic guilt works in my favorite as it’s a sin to throw away food).

Inside Radio City Music Hall

The theatre is impressive as we ascended to the mezzanine level. The standard theatre red rugs were accented by art pieces in display cases as we could overlook the lobby and marvel at the chandelier.  This level had a long, long, very long Ladies Room line when we arrived (I would learn why when I left in the middle of the show – there were only four stalls!). I will never understand why theatres don’t upgrade the bathrooms when they have the space and the ability to do so. The beauty of the theatre is offset by the ugliness of the “ladies lounge”.

The Holiday Spectacular

The mezzanine seats were large and comfortable with a great view of the stage.  My friend was here for the Tony awards last year and I was a bit jealous of her when I saw how great the seats were in person (note to self – buy tickets to The Tony Awards someday).

Santa opened the show and we donned our 3D glasses for a short ride to the city.  It was here that the Rockettes emerged onto the stage and I was instantly mesmerized by them.  I kept trying to find one girl out of step or crooked or with her head at the wrong angle but I could find no fault, it was amazing.  All of my preconceived notions were blown away as the ladies entertained in one number after another, each more impressive than the last.

Just as I was settling into the show, it was over!

The Tree Sleeps at Night

We exited the theatre and walked up the street 1/2 block in the rain to see the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center (along with hundred of others), it was 11:30 p.m. and just as we positioned the camera to take a photo, the lights shut off!  WHAT?!!!  This is the city that never sleeps and yet they turned the lights off at 11:30!  I was dumbfounded by this – thousands of tourists are leaving the Holiday Show meer steps away and the lights are off on the tree but not the decor surrounding the Center.

 

So I didn’t get a photo of the tree this year which made me sad but luckily, we had the Lord & Taylor windows all to ourselves near midnight as we walked back to the Hyatt Place.

See You In The Spring

My friend and I continued to discuss the show on the walk back to the hotel as we were both so surprised by how much we enjoyed it.  I think much of the conversation was him saying “see I was right – told you so” trying to get me to admit I was wrong. Realizing I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction, he said “We should come back for the Spring show” and I happily agreed (I think this is called compromising?).