Radio City Christmas Spectacle

Last night Boyfriend and I got to go see the final dress rehearsal of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. One of the perks I get from one of my jobs is I get free tickets to the shows I'm promoting, and we happen to be promoting this show. I was really excited because I had seen the Rockettes on tour in Denver many years ago, but I'd never been to Radio City in the 5 years I've lived in NYC. The lobby had beautiful crystal Christmas tree chandeliers and the art deco style of the architecture has been well preserved in the building. We had decent seats in the orchestra section, and when the curtain went up, I got all excited like I was a little kid again, but it was to be bittersweet excitement since the clusterfuck of an audience ruined the magic a little bit.

I know it was only a dress rehearsal, and so the people who paid for their tickets probably got some serious discounts, but many of them  seemed unable to grasp the fact that we were not watching a movie, so if you talked through it, the people on stage could hear you, and it's not like at home where if you miss something, you can pause and rewind it. This is a live event. Why is this concept so difficult for some people?!?!

Here are just some of the issues I had with my fellow audience members:

-Loud talkers
-Babies crying, and not being comforted, only ignored by their "parents" (seriously, there were toddlers roaming the aisles wailing)
-The child having a tantrum sitting behind me who was kicking and/or punching the back of my seat while his "parents" ignored him
-The people in front of me taking pictures during the show...of THEMSELVES (thus the flash would blind me for a while, thus I missed bits of the show)

W. T. F?!

I think Boyfriend said it best: "That audience was what I imagine it would have been like to see Shakespeare in his time, with all the groundlings peeing, farting, yelling during the performance."

Now, the show itself was quite enjoyable. I'd seen it in the past, so I remembered a lot of the classic Rockette numbers and was pleased with the new ones they added this year. The costumes were lovely and it's always amazing to see the Rockettes do what they do.

Something new that was added this year were several 3-D elements to appeal to the little kids. They were well-executed, but I would have been fine without them. So, if anyone does see this, I hope your audience is better-behaved than mine was, and I hope you enjoy! (Check your cynicism at the door though, it's a family show, and it's Christmas. No Christmas Grumpuses allowed!)