Critic says Rockettes’ 100th Spectacular honors legacy but leans on sisterhood

The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes, presented during the group’s 100th anniversary at Radio City Music Hall, paid homage to the Rockettes’ legacy but, the critic Gia Kourlas wrote in The New York Times, its future seemed to be more about sisterhood than dance.

Kourlas noted that a Rockette unexpectedly fell mid-kick last month before an audience of former Rockettes celebrating the milestone. Kourlas said the show began strongly — calling the first four dances the most satisfying — but later treated the Rockettes more like “Santa’s arm candy” than the precision dancers they are.

She wrote that the audience of more than 500 former Rockettes was in celebration mode and largely unfazed by the slip; one woman in front of her was livestreaming the performance to what Kourlas said was quite likely a former Rockette watching from her kitchen. The critic also questioned why there was no new Rockette dance to mark the centennial.

The review traced the company’s origins to Russell Markert, who formed the Missouri Rockets in 1925 and later led the troupe until 1971 after they relocated to New York and became the Roxyettes and then the Rockettes at Radio City. Kourlas recounted efforts to modernize under Linda Haberman from 2006 to 2014 and noted enduring pieces such as Markert’s 1933 Parade of the Wooden Soldiers and choreography by Haberman, while also pointing to moments she found retro or pieced together in the current production.

Key Topics

Culture, Radio City Rockettes, Christmas Spectacular, Radio City, Gia Kourlas, Russell Markert