The Radio City Christmas Spectacular is a holiday season tradition. And this year’s show, which celebrates the 85th anniversary of the world famous kick line, the Rockettes, also focuses on the costumes in all their bedazzled lycra and shimmering stretch velvet splendor.
Consider that the 36-member Rockettes appear in eight different numbers (and there are two separate casts, each with her own costume, plus separate for the eight swing performers who fill in whenever needed). And that’s not counting the singing and dancing ensemble’s outfits which range from dancing bears to dancing Santa’s (the Rockettes also wear these), to robes and caftans for the “Living Nativity” procession.
As if all that weren’t enough, this year’s New York show, which runs through Dec. 30, also features a special retrospective of Rockette costumes from the past. The six featured costumes, plucked from the archives, include:
– Sailor Costume from 1940, designed by Marco Montedoro and Willa Van. The Rockettes wore this costume to the Times Square ceremony celebrating the 1941 launch of the USO.
Sailor costume image courtesy of MSG Entertainment
– Astronaut Costume from 1965, designed by Frank Spencer. The costume, a body suit decorated with mammoth pearls was part of the Music Hall’s “Star Bright” show.
Rocket costume image courtesy of MSG Entertainment
– Candy Cane “Bizazz” Costume from 1999, designed by Pete Menefee. This costume was worn when the Music Hall reopened in 1999.
Candy Cane costume image courtesy of MSG Entertainment
– Dancing in Diamonds Costume from 1982, designed by Bob Mackie. Mackie designed for the Rockettes for several years. The Dancing in Diamonds Costume was created for the Music Hall’s 50th Anniversary celebration called “Encore.”
Diamond Bob Mackie costume image courtesy of MSG Entertainment
Rockette Sierra King, one of the Christmas show’s resident costume authorities, shared some other fun costume facts with Fashion Reverie:
Fashion Reverie: What’s the scene like backstage when it comes to the costumes?
King: Our backstage is just as choreographed as what you see onstage. Some of our changes are just over a minute. We have one costume change that is only about 78 seconds long. There are designated areas once we exit the stage where we do our quick changes. For every three Rockettes there are about 12 to 15 women assigned to change them.
Our wardrobe department is also very large. We have people who just do laundering although some of the costumes, because of how delicate they are, have to be dry cleaned. Then there are people who just do alterations and sewing although most of the alterations are done before the season even begins; that all starts with fittings in the summer before rehearsals start.
FR: We know that costumes are constantly being introduced and old ones retired, but what are the oldest costume designs in the show?
King: The ‘Living Nativity’ and ‘March of the Wooden Soldiers’ have been in the show since 1933 and those costumes have been pretty much the same. The ‘March of the Wooden Soldiers’ costume was designed by Vincente Minnelli. That’s an iconic number.
Wooden soldiers image courtesy of MSG Entertainment
Fashion Reverie: What happened to the Empire State building motif costume designed by Christopher Palu during the recently completed season 10 of Project Runway?
King: It’s not in the Christmas show, but that costume will be worn by the Rockettes. The challenge happened this summer so it was too late to get it produced for this year’s Christmas show. But it will be worn.
“Project Runway” Rockette image courtesy of Lifetime Entertainment
FR: What’s your favorite costume in the show?
King: One of my favorites is for our final number which is “Let Christmas Shine.” This costume is really gorgeous. Each costume is covered with 3,000 Swarovski crystals and once the light hits those costumes it’s pretty spectacular to see.
— Karyn D. Collins
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