The 1970s
Radio City management began closing the theatre for weeks at a stretch, leaving the once busy Rockettes with time on their hands. The troupe petitioned for the right to take the show on the road when Radio City was dark. In 1977, the Rockettes appeared at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Their precision dancing took the west coast by storm as they went on to play to sold-out crowds in Las Vegas. They even opened for Liberace at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1979. In 1978, Radio City was slated to close due to financial problems. The Rockettes lead the crusade to save the theatre. In 1979, Radio City was designated a New York City landmark, saving it from the wrecking ball. The movie-and-stage format remained a Radio City signature until 1979, when the mass showcasing of new films called for a different focus. The decade ended on a wonderful upbeat note. The Rockettes starred with Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer Ann-Margaret in a two-hour television special, A Holiday Tribute to Radio City Music Hall. Ann-Margaret even joined the Rockettes in their iconic Parade of the Wooden Soldiers number!
The 1980s
The Rockettes led the fitness movement that swept the country. The dancers were arguably the fittest women in Amercia. Radio City had moved to a new format: it no longer showed movies, but presented 90-minute stage shows. The Rockettes danced four or five numbers in each of them, four times a day, seven days a week, for four weeks straight. Then each woman got a week off. During the '80s, the Rockettes performed with Ginger Rogers in a show called A Rockette Spectacular with Ginger Rogers and also worked alongside Carol Lawrence and Liberace. They appeared as themselves in the movie Annie, starred in the 1988 Super Bowl halftime show and made a commercial for L'Eggs pantyhose singing and dancing in praise of "a great pair of L'Eggs". They went on the road, too, and performed in Las Vegas and in Lake Tahoe. There, Sammy Davis Jr., a great admirer of theirs, watched their show night after night. On their closing night, without warning he stepped out on stage and joined the line. Former Rockette, Leslie remembers him being one of the sweetest men she has ever met. To celebrate the 50th birthday of Radio City in 1982, producer and choreographer Bob Jani presented a lavish show featuring 50 years of Rockettes costumes. Another memorable event throughout the '80s was a series of three television specials in honor of the centennial of the Actors' Fund of America. They were called The Night of 100 Stars, but actually over 200 of the most famous performers in the world took part. If you were a star of stage, screen or television, you were there! It all took place at Radio City so, of course, the Rockettes welcomed the audience, danced the opening number and even got to share the stage with talent like Dick Van Dyke, Lana Turner, Grace Kelly and Muhammad Ali.
The 1990s
The Rockettes continued to present their ever-popular Christmas Spectacular and Easter Extravaganza. Choreographers and designers created new routines and new costumes for them, but the historic Radio City Music Hall was beginning to show its age. Radio City's parent company decided that the world's greatest theater was in need of the world's greatest restoration. The vision? To restore Radio City to its former glory, to recapture the magnificence that made people gasp as they entered on that opening night back in 1932. Every bit of gold leaf was repainted. Every one of the 6,200 seats were re-covered. In fact, there were now exactly 269 few seats. The company had surveyed the sightlines and ordered that seats be removed because they did not have an adequate view of the stage. They approved the purchase of a huge 50,000 pound LED screen which can be raised and lowered. It is the largest of its kind in the world. The projections from the screen's "light emitting diodes" make all kinds of scenery possible taking the audience on magical journeys. Another innovation was the sound system. Radio City wasn't satisfied that the audience was hearing the Rockettes' pre-recorded taps .. they wanted the real thing. The company wouldn't settle for the dancers to wear wired microphones and belt packs .. they were too bulky and slowed down costume changes so they challenged the best engineers to come up with a solution. Today, when the Rockettes are doing a tap number during the Christmas Spectacular, they wear custom dance shoes that have a special cavity within the heel for a sound transmitter so what the audience hears is the actual rhythmic tapping of 72 feet. When the Rockettes appeared in the Christmas Spectacular at the newly re-opened Radio City in 1999, one of the new numbers featured Santa Claus and his workshop. Greg Barnes, the Tony Award-winning designer who's known for his costumes for Follies, Flower Drum Song and the revival of Bye Bye Birdie created many outfits for the Rockettes, but perhaps his most memorable idea was to dress them as reindeer, complete with antlers. At every performance, when they pranced on stage pulling Santa's sled, they brought down the house.
The 2000s
Radio City Music Hall marked the 75th Anniversary of the Rockettes with around 2,500 women having shared in the legacy by performig as a Radio City Rockette. In 2001, the Rockettes were invited to perform at the 43rd President of the United States George W. Bush's inauguration in Washington D.C. where they danced their way down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. In 2005, the Rockettes performed their second presidential inauguration. Linda Haberman became the first woman named solo director and choreographer for the Rockettes in 2006. Trained at the School of American Ballet, Haberman was in the original cast of Bob Fosse's Dancin' then went on to become his assistant choreographer. Her vision for the Rockettes was to transform them into a contemporary dance company. Haberman's amazing choreography brought the troupe to new heights and demanded superb dance technique as well as true athleticism. On the Radio City stage, her productions combined dance with the ground-breaking technology and called for the Rockettes to interact with 3D effects. For the New York at Christmas number, Haberman put the Rockettes on a full-scale double-decker bus which moved in sync with the images of the city projected on the 90-foot LED screen. Haberman created the first touring productions of the Christmas Spectacular which visited more than 80 cities in the United States during their time. The tour ended after the 2014 season as new approaches were explored to best showcase the Christmas Spectacular and the Rockettes. This decade saw an important new Rockettes dance education program: The Rockettes Summer Intensive which offers aspiring professional dancers the unique opportunity to train with the Rockettes and learn their world-famous precision dance technique. More than 1,000 young dancers from across the country audition each year. Those who are accepted spend a week in New York where they rehearse and learn the Rockettes' disciplines and dance routines. To date, more than 60 Rockettes have come from this training program.
The 2010s
Since the 1990s, the Rockettes have only performed at Radio City Music Hall from November to January in the Christmas Spectacular. However, that changed in the Spring of 2015 when the Rockettes starred in a new eight-week production, The New York Spring Spectacular alongside Tony Award-winner Laura Benanti and Dancing with the Stars' Derek Hough. In June 2016, the Rockette performed on the Great Stage to celebrate New York City in The New York Spectacular. Centered around the trip of a lifetime for two kids, who, while on a vacation in New York are separated from their parents, the city magically comes to life to show them its many splendid wonders. The Rockettes have been busier and more in the public eye than ever. They have performed on the Great Stage with Oprah, Heidi Klum, Michael Buble and have made numerous appearances on The Today Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and America's Got Talent in 2013, 2014 and 2015!
From the moment they first appeared in 1925, the Rockettes have been American icons. They are symbols of what you can achieve if you move with passion, dream big, work hard and most importantly .. believe in yourself.
Merry Christmas
Pat Locke, Maestro Muse
