What do I want to be when I grow up? I want to be 5’6” when I grow up so I can be a world famous Rockette! I had the time of my life watching the Rockettes kick off (pun intended!) another fantastic season of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. The singing, dancing, ever-changing scenery, dazzling special effects, and gazillion, gorgeous costume changes had me captivated the whole time. As soon as the orchestra started playing the opening medley of my favorite holiday songs and the Rockettes took the stage, my eyes lit up and I was immediately transported to a magical, holiday wonderland.
The opening number was one of my personal favorites: The Rockettes did a sensational number to “Jingle Bells.” The dynamic dancing dolls dressed as reindeer complete with light-up antlers that had me jingle-ing all the way. I’m not sure if the best part was the countless precision kicks or Santa’s sleigh arriving for the “reindeer” to pull him through a virtual snow shower.
Soon we were off with Santa on a 3-D, virtual sleigh ride over Manhattan. It was extraordinary! I tried to reach out to catch the presents he was delivering but had to dodge the skyscrapers. Whew! Before too long, we arrived safely back at Radio City to celebrate the season with the joys of something new and cherished traditions of the past.
Speaking of tradition, Radio City took the traditional “Nutcracker” and gave it a new twist. There was a mini Nutcracker suite complete with dancing dolls and bears and some were even on pointe! I wish I could bring one of the dancing bears home but Mommy said they live at Radio City. Next was the “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” which has been delighting audiences since 1933. That’s a really, really long time! The Rockette toy soldiers razzled and dazzled us all with this number.
Then we were off on a big, red, tour bus ride to see New York at Christmas with the Rockettes. We rode across the city and through Central Park and even saw ice skaters! It was breathtaking! My favorite part was that the Rockettes boarded the bus in beautiful, winter coats and as they exited they had flashy green and red sequin outfits that sparkled during their circular kick line and dance number. It was off the charts!
A Santa story of believing in magic came next and stole the hearts of kids of all ages in the audience. Santa and all his helpers were there. At first I could count six then 10 Santas but there were so many I couldn’t keep up. It was a Santa-fest to “Santa Claus is Coming to Town!” The heartwarming story took us to the North Pole and back and taught a beautiful lesson showing that: “You don’t find the gift–the gift finds you.” And the Rockettes wished us a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year with a delightful dance number.
The scenes and stories leading up to the grand finale took us through the snow in a “White Christmas” and a “Living Nativity Scene” complete with three camels, two sheep, and wise men, oh my! And we all sang “Joy to the World” for the grand finale. It was truly joyful.
I was kicking and singing and dancing the whole way home while trying to guess just how many incredible kicks in total there were in the show by the Radio City Rockettes.
This little Rockette-in-training knows you will want to holiday rock with the Rockettes, too. Details can be found at radiocitychristmas.com!
Help make holiday dreams come true by giving to the 10th annual Garden of Dreams Toy Drive delivered by Rockettes: Click HERE to learn more!
Elle Belle is an adorable preschooler who lives in the Upper East Side of Manhattan with her magnificent mommy, dapper dad, and baby sister. She can be reached at ellebellenyc@gmail.com or like at facebook.com/ElleBelleNYC.
