Ahh, time flies.
Mom used to hang up school calendars on the kitchen wall – green for September, orange for October, and so on. We crossed out every square, always looking forward to the next free day. And of course, we counted down to Christmas. We decorated our plastic tree with a mixture of store-bought, gifted, and art class ornaments and we piled presents in haphazard towers underneath. Dad draped twinkly lights on the bushes outside and wrapped the stair rails in string lights.
Every year my mom asked the family if we wanted to watch the Rockettes; we always gave her a noncommittal yes. Now it’s almost the end of January 2017 – both Christmas and New Year’s Day have come and gone. The countdown is still about days off (albeit from work), more about the family time, and less about the gifts. And this year, we finally watched the Radio City Rockettes perform in the Christmas Spectacular.
The Rockettes performed dance numbers representing different facets of the season. They opened the show dressed in reindeer costumes pulling Santa’s sleigh. After a bit of 3D animation that took us on a tour of New York City, we saw dance numbers with living toys, snowflakes, rag dolls, a million Santas, and the 12 Days of Christmas in tap dance form. Through cute transitions with performers on tiny stages to the side and obviously the overarching holiday theme, the separate dance numbers do not feel too disjointed. It was quite an amazing sight to see a whole row of synchronized leg kicks (can you imagine the practice involved?!).
The show did have a few moments that did not solely focus on the Rockettes – a park scene featured ice skaters and a later Nativity scene pulled out all the stops. We were also treated to a short story involving two brothers, the spirit of Christmas, and Santa.
Verdict
I enjoyed watching the Christmas Spectacular especially because my mom truly appreciated it. Some parts did not catch my attention as much as others but the next scene always pulled me back in. I probably wouldn’t catch the show every year but I’m glad I experienced it with my family. This is also a great event to bring family that’s visiting. If Christmas isn’t your thing or you missed this past season’s shows, the Rockettes are also performing in a New York Spectacular.
