Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular starring Rockettes canceled due to pandemic
The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular has been canceled this year.
Today's announcement leaves some to wonder: What next? No Santa Claus?
"We are disappointed for everyone involved with the show, as well as for the many fans who make the Christmas Spectacular a cherished part of their holiday tradition," read a statement from Madison Square Garden Entertainment (Radio City is operated by the Madison Square Garden Company).
All tickets for the 2020 production will be automatically refunded at the point of purchase. This is the first time the Christmas Spectacular has ever been canceled since 1933.
Movies: Disney pulls 'Mulan,' Paramount delays 'Top Gun: Maverick' till 2021 amid COVID-19 surge
Christmas Spectacular: Dancer Sydney Mesher, born with one hand, makes Radio City Rockettes history
COVID is, of course, the culprit. The show, starring the famous Rockettes, was "canceled due to continued uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic," the statement said.
"It's just an incredible show to be a part of," Katie Hamrah, a Rockette, told the Asbury Park Press in 2019. "Some of the numbers have been in the show since the start, and that's really special to us. 'Parade of the Wooden Soldiers' has been in since it began, so that's really cool to say that you're a part of this legacy."
Not only is the Christmas Spectacular an eagerly anticipated yearly treat for many families, it's also a beloved anachronism — the last holdout of a grand tradition.
Back in the 1930s and '40s, at a time when a "moving picture show" really was a show, the feature film was merely the centerpiece of a whole evening's worth of entertainment.
There were newsreels, travelogues, cartoons. There were games and giveaways: Screeno, Bunko, "Dish Night." There were sing-alongs: audiences would bawl "My Darling Clementine" or "The Band Played On" to live organ accompaniment, as the lyrics flashed on the screen and they followed the bouncing ball.
Celebrating Christmas: From Ellen to Charlie Brown, celebrate the holidays with these new and classic TV specials
In the biggest theaters, there were live stage shows — "prologues" — often on a spectacular scale. A 1933 movie musical, "Footlight Parade," follows the misadventures of a producer (James Cagney) staging gigantic musical prologues in movie theaters.
Biggest of all — as befits the venue — were the prologues staged at Radio City Music Hall. The Art Deco palace was the most enormous, most spectacular movie theater of them all when it opened in December, 1932.
The first movie show there was "The Bitter Tea of General Yen." And the first routine performed by the Rockettes was a synchronized high-kicking dance to the tune, “With a Feather in Your Cap.”
Only they weren't the Rockettes, then. They were the Roxyettes — named after showman Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel, creator of Radio City, who had brought the dance team over from his other great movie palace, The Roxy. It was only in 1934 that they were redubbed to honor John D. Rockefeller Jr. Radio City was the crown jewel of his Rockefeller Center.
The Christmas Spectacular, the yearly pageant featuring such novelties as "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" and the "Living Nativity," became a holiday tradition starting in 1933. It remained so through 1979 — by which time Radio City was the last remaining movie theater to stage prologues. When Radio City was reborn, in 1980, purely as a concert venue, the Christmas Spectacular remained — as its own, stand-alone event.
"We look forward to welcoming audiences back for the 2021 production, which is on sale now," MSG said.
Contributing: Ilana Keller from the Asbury Park Press
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular canceled due to COVID-19
