Radio City Music Hall
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
1260 6th Avenue,
New York,
NY
10020
118 people
favorited this theater
Showing 326 - 350 of 3,332 comments
Yes about 1956 ticket prices, My Mom and I in that year paid 99cents for the first show at Xmas , plus full length movie,plus 36 rockettes, plus 60 corpse ballet members, probably the pit orchestra was 65 strong (no recorded music),plus 25 male chorus, plus ice skaters,plus comic, plus Wurlitzer organ short concert to start and used again during the Navivity number,plus original waterfall curtain, which you didn’t see walking feet under , plus a 6 page free printed program. As a pricing example the first balcony was $1.25. Plus real scenery not digital! All elevators were used and the bandcar,what an experience, thank you ,thank god I’m old!!!!
It did, but I’ll have to look up the date. We played it in 70mm and on one performance the operators skipped from reel 5 to reel 8 without running 6 and 7. I was relatively new at the time and had to write a letter to the Business Agent registering management’s displeasure. That did cause the run to stick in my mind.
Did it EVER play here?
1/6/65-1/27/65 Father Goose 1/28/65-3/3/65 36 Hours ¾/65-3/31/65 Dear Heart 4/1/65-5/12/65 Operation Crossbow 5/13/65-7/14/65 Yellow Rolls Royce 7/15/65-9/15/65 Sandpiper 9/16/65-11/3/65 Great Race 11/4/65-12/1/65 Never Too Late 12/2/65-1/5/66 That Darn Cat
Sound Of Music did not play here in 1965. I have ALL the original books here that were used by the projectionist since the building opened.
75 cents before noon. In the 50’s, I recall a ticket to the Radio City Music Hall was just 75 cents or 90 cents before noon. Can anybody confirm this and we used to get a free souvenir program as well describing the film & stage performance. I saved the programs somewhere in my house.
A lady swears that she saw The Sound of Music at the Music Hall in 1965. I am certain that it never played there back in 1965 as it was 3 hours long plus a live performance would mean a frozen line outside for 4 hours. Sound of Music did finally play at the Music Hall decades later for a sing-a-long version without any stage show (no Rockettes). I saw Sound of Music in 1965 at the Rivoli Theatre in 1965 in Todd-AO.
The only Santa part that is on a track is the 3D flight from the North Pole. The rest of the show is all him. The other main characters say and sing there own vocals also. The rest of the ensemble pretty much runs off of tracks. I’m pretty sure the Rockettes are tracks too but I’ll check.
Can anyone tell me how much of the vocal music for the Christmas Show is dubbed? I assume that all of it is, including Santa’s monologues.
Not only did she use the front wall, but she used the sides also. It took 27 digital projectors to do it. It was a good show.
rcdt55b, yes you described what I was seeing perfectly. Thats exactly what I said to the folks I was with, that it looked like 3 sections. Every time I leave, I always look up to the booth and always wish, although I know never possible, what it would be like to see the booth. My projection career of 38 years ended 2 years ago when digital took over. Now Im just a stagehand. Have a good show run.
We did go back to linear 3D gels this year which is better than last year’s circular 3D gels because of less double image. This isn’t the reason for what you saw though. There are 2 vertical braces behind the screen which are right up against the screen itself. Each one is a third of the way in from each side. Because the screen is so big, there is some slack in it. When the house fans are turned on, the screen is blown back onto these braces. On bright scenes, the braces are very visible while watching from the front. The second problem is the silver screen. It is extremely reflective. So because the screen isn’t sitting perfectly flat now, it looks like 3 sections of different brightness. We complained enough over the last few years about the braces that they finally removed the diagonal ones so it wasn’t as noticeable.
BTW, that screen is not the new one. It’s the same one we have used for the Christmas show for the last 4 years. The new picture sheet, which is also a silver screen for some reason, is only used for movies.
Saw the Christmas show tonight at 530pm. Awesome as usual. But its funny, even on the new screen, which was huge and awesome, from my seat JJ505 off aisle E, the image looked like 3 varying shades of brightness. Im wondering if its the 3D glasses causing me to see this???
I believe the Music Hall opened with 46. With that false proscenium they can make the stage shows smaller without it being noticeable.
The ballet company and orchestra were huge as well as one can see in photos from the early 30s.
In the 70s after they cut the ballet troupe the Rockettes were cut down to 30. Though there was no false proscenium the curtain opening got narrower and the girls were a bit more spaced out. Also the orchestra members were also spaced out and they started to use a synthesizer to augment it.
Since the question was raised about the number of Rockettes, it may be of interest that when the troupe started, in 1925 at the Missouri Theatre in St. Louis as the Rockets, it numbered 16.
I agree 100%. We still do use film from time to time also.
Thanks, rcdt. You know, I really do think there is an amazing amount of the past that lives today at Radio City Music Hall. Sure the digital age has necessitated some changes but one needs that to stay relevant (and follow the money to run the joint). When I walk into the building today, what I see in the general public spaces and the auditorium really do look remarkably as they did in the ‘80’s when I was working there and if someone really wants to push the limit of a production technically, all the capability (and crew) is still there.
You are correct. 36.
I believe the standard for a Rockette-driven number is 36 for New York, and that has been for some time as it is the maximum that can fit within the proscenium of the RCMH. Road tours use 18 or 24, I believe. It’s multiples of six. Or, at least, that’s the story tour guides were fed!
How many Rockettes now dance on stage in the Xmas show, is it only 24?????
While I no longer live in New York City, I am so glad that this theatre is still active and well maintained.
They had no music at all before the shows which was strange. They will be used again for the Christmas show this year. They were actually working on one of them yesterday.
Was the Wurlitzer used before the screening of Back to the Future? Will it be used for the Christmas show?
For the 30th anniversary of “Back to the Future”, they had 2 screenings 2 weeks ago. Thursday night and Friday night 8PM. Christopher Lloyd, James Tolkan, Alan Silvestri, and Bob Gale were at each screening.
We ran the dialogue track but the music track was cut and played live by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra on stage. They seated the entire house except for the 400 section of the first Mezz. We had 2 Christie digital projectors there for the movie. It’s the first time we used the new house picture sheet since it was installed in April.
rcdt55b, could you give some more detail about the Back to the Future screenings? I love events like that…
The curtain operates as it always did. As for the other things you mentioned, maybe you should see the show first before commenting.