Our friend Matt had a couple extra tickets to the New York Spring Spectacular starring the Rockettes, and he was generous and invited us to go along with him. We went with him to see the
Rockettes' Christmas show a couple of years ago. The spring show is brand new this year.
So last Thursday, March 19th, I headed into Manhattan to meet both Brian and Matt at the PCMag offices around 5:00 pm. Matt works at PCMag too. I got there a little early, and they weren't quite finished with their work, so I got to wait near Brian's work space in the lab. He doesn't have a cubicle, but instead works off one end of the laptop testing bench.
He's got quite the nice little setup, including a collection of toys and knick-knacks displayed on the shelf above his desktop. He's gathered these from various events and inherited a few from other coworkers who've moved on from the company. Apparently that's the cool thing to do at PCMag...display your toy collection. I was surprised by how much it's grown since I saw it last, but it's still small when compared some of the others' collections, which take up the whole length of the shelf.
Once they finished up, we headed to get some food for dinner. We stopped for a quick bite at a Subway (the restaurant, not the train) before walking the 20 or so blocks up to Radio City Music Hall on W 50th St. It was a nice walk, albeit crowded -- a lot of people are still getting off work around 6:30 pm.
For most of our walk, we traveled north along 5th Avenue. We passed the Empire State Building (walked right past its front doors), the New York Public Library, Rockefeller Center, and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Because New York is such a huge city, with all its skyscrapers and people, it's easy to forget that it actually doesn't cover that much ground. Everything is really close and you can see multiple tourist sights during a short walk.
For the last couple of years, the exterior of St. Patrick's Cathedral has been surrounded by scaffolding, as workers have labored to clean and repair the facade. When we came upon it Thursday evening, the scaffolding around the front of the building was gone. The building's stone was so much lighter than it had been when we first saw it
2010. It made the impressive building an even greater contrast to the surrounding skyscrapers.
We turned the corner at the cathedral, and walked down the block to our destination.
We were a bit early, but the guy at the gate near the doors let us in when Matt told him that he was press. On the side, Matt works as a theater critic -- that's where he gets all these tickets to go see different shows. Matt picked up his press packet and tickets at a table just inside the doors. We each received a playbill, a pair of 3D glasses, and a funky wrist band that we were instructed to put on and wear throughout the performance.
We made our way inside to the large lobby full of people milling around. There were a few booths scattered around the edges of the room, acting as gift shops and concession stands. Some of the booths sold pretzels and candy, while others sold alcoholic drinks. I made my way downstairs for a quick bathroom stop before we entered the actual theater. The bathroom/lounge was larger than our apartment. The line wound through three or four carpeted rooms with plush chairs, cushioned benches, and mirrors before reaching to the actual bathroom. There was a lady at the front of the line just shouting "next" over and over as stalls became available. That job would get old really fast!
We all found each other again in the lobby and headed into the actual theater room. It's quite a large space, and was bathed in orange/red light. We had seats in the center of the orchestra section. We sat down and looked over our programs while waiting for the show to start. A bit later, a man came and sat in the seat to my left. Matt leaned over to us and whispered that the guy sitting next to me was the theater critic for the Associated Press. A pretty important guy, I guess.
Soon the lights dimmed and the show began. The orchestra was set up on the front portion of the stage that had been lowered so they were invisible to the audience. As the show started, that section of stage raised up until we could see the orchestra playing. It's members were dressed in tuxedos -- white jackets with black pants and bowties -- and each one stood or sat behind a white, lighted, waist-high pillar of sorts. It reminded me of the bands/orchestras you see playing in classic movies. A creepy Easter Bunny, basically a man in a fuzzy suit with a giant rabbit head on, ran out across the stage as the opening song played. He was followed by two random Minions.
The orchestra was lowered back down as the music faded, and the curtain opened. An image of space, with stars and planets, was projected on the stage's backdrop and the theater's ceiling. Whoopi Goldberg's voice started talking and it quickly became apparent that she was supposed to be God. This was only the beginning of what would be a very weird show. Overall we liked it -- the music and dancing was great, and the sets were really cool, but there were a lot of head-scratching moments as well..
The basic story line was this: Bernie, an elderly man who has been working as a tour guide in New York City his entire life, is in jeopardy of losing his job. Jenna, a billionaire and head of her own company called Jenna World, has developed a virtual tour of NYC that will be very profitable for her company. Jenna, along with Marshal, her Vice President, want to fire Bernie and institute their new tour. Jack, an angel, was charged by God to help Bernie keep his job, and by doing so would earn his wings. Jack goes down to the city and befriends Bernie, getting him to take Jenna, Marshall, and himself on one of his tours in hopes of convincing Jenna to let Bernie keep his job. Bernie's two grandchildren join them on the tour. In the end, Jenna comes around and realizes that even though her virtual tour will make her tons of money, it can't compare to a real tour of the city. She decides to let Bernie keep his job. Jack decides not to take his wings, which he's earned, because he's fallen in love with Jenna. Instead he decides to stay a man and live happily ever after with Jenna in NYC.
We thought the whole thing was funny, because the moral of the show (if you will) is about how a real live tour of the city is better than a virtual tour. They illustrate this by taking the audience on a virtual tour of the city..
Jack was played by ballroom dancer and choreographer Derek Hough, and Jenna by stage and screen actress Laura Benanti.
The part of Bernie was played by stage and television actor Lenny Wolpe (left), and Marshall was played by actor, singer, and dancer Jared Grimes (right).
Jack first meets up with Bernie, Jenna, and Marshall in Grand Central Station. We liked that they projected the image of Grand Central Station's ceiling on the theater's ceiling.
Besides the main characters, the Rockettes did the majority of the dancing throughout the show. They were fun to watch. They didn't do their famous "line up and kick" routine until the last number, though. Here they are dancing in front of the Grand Central backdrop.
After Grand Central, they "traveled" to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The main backdrop was an image of the building projected on hanging panels. We liked the fountain that is a miniature version of the fountains outside the actual MET building.
They took a tour inside the MET, starting with the painting galleries. Jack used his magic to make the characters in the paintings come to life and dance across the stage. Each time Jack used his magic, the wrist bands we were wearing lit up and blinked in different colors.
One of the paintings that came to life was "Dancers Practicing at the Bar." I loved the ballerinas dancing across the stage. It was one of my favorite numbers of the entire show. I love Degas' ballerina paintings, but have only viewed them online or in textbooks. I didn't realize that they have some of them at the MET. We're going to have to go back soon and find them.
After the painting gallery, they moved to the MET's Egyptian section. Rockettes dressed as Egyptian women filed out onstage and danced, along with figures from other paintings.
After the Egyptians left the stage, dancers in Pacific Island costumes came to life and did a dance number with Jack.
From the MET, the tour group went to Central Park. An image of a blue sky with clouds was projected on the theater's ceiling, and a remote control kite was flown in the air from the balcony to the stage.
They stopped at the statue of "Alice in Wonderland," a larger than life version of the real thing in Central Park. It's the creepiest statue in the park; we've seen it
once. The statue was actually a giant animatronic puppet that talked to the characters. It was kind of cool and made the statue even more creepy at the same time.
While they were still in the park, it started raining. Sprays of water droplets actually fell from the stage's ceiling onto the center section of its floor. The Rockettes, Jack, and Marshall did a dance number in the rain. Of course it was to the song "Singing in the Rain." We liked this number, it was fun.
A large screen was lowered down after the dancing, and they showed a short montage of clips taken from movies set in New York City. It was really random and didn't have a lot to do with the show at all, except that it showed scenes from New York. Some of the movies included were Crocodile Dundee, Big, Spider Man, Tootsie, and King Kong. It was bizarre. While the "movie" was playing, workers dressed in black came across the stage with mops and machines to dry the water from the rain and clean the floor.
After the movie ended, we found the characters in Times Square. Where Laura Benanti sang a Broadway Medley on the Broadway steps. Various characters you can find in Times Square -- including tourists, street performers, and people dressed as Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Paddington Bear -- looked on.
A scene about Fashion Week was included next. We didn't particularly like this part. They had bright, blinding lights flashing from the back wall of the stage. The lights were positioned horizontally, so they pointed directly at the audience. We couldn't even watch much of the Rockettes' dancing and strutting down the "runway" during this scene, because if we didn't keep our eyes closed we would have lost our sight.
They showcased all of NYC's major sports teams. Starting at Madison Square Garden (just a projected imaged on a backdrop) with the Rangers and Knicks, they moved to the MetLife Stadium with the Giants, and ended at the Yankee Stadium with the Yankees. Throughout all of this, Rockettes dressed in corresponding sports uniforms with equipment came on stage and danced around a little as they "played" the game. At this point during the show, Bernie was feeling pretty depressed about how things were looking, so they played short clips of sportscasters and players from each team giving Bernie pep talks on a screen above the stage. Again, this was really weird. People shown included Michael Strahan, Henrik Lundqvist, Joe Girardi, Carmelo Anthony, Odell Beckham Jr., Victor Cruz, Bob Costas. Donald Trump was even included.
After Bernie was sufficiently happier, they continued his tour, stopping at the NY Public Library on 5th Avenue. The two lions, named Patience and Fortitude, were animatronic puppets as well. Despite their obvious male gender, they were voiced by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Although gender confused, they were funny.
The next scene was at the top of the Empire State Building. I really liked the stage design for this scene. Here Bernie is reunited with his dead wife for a time, thanks to Jack's magic. We learn that this is where he proposed to her. They dance a little bit, and then Jack sings "The Way You Look Tonight" and dances with Jenna. All of the Rockettes line up behind Jenna as she's dancing with Jack, so it looks like he's dancing with a sparkling conga line. A lady and man are lowered partway down from the ceiling, where they hang suspended on wires while dancing together. That was weird. This is the only picture I could find of the Empire State stage design, and the Rockettes aren't in costume here, just practicing.
The last stop of the tour is the Statue of Liberty, another animatronic puppet. She is voiced by Whoopi Goldberg who is still God but also the Statue of Liberty. Jenna decides to fire Bernie because the numbers just don't lie.
Jack then takes them to Radio City Music Hall, where Jenna gets to dance with the Rockettes. All of that bouncing and kicking must have changed her mind, because she rehires Bernie.
From there, everyone changes outfits so they are dressed up for Easter. They end up at the Easter Parade on 5th Avenue, where they are all happy and everything is right with the world. The Rockettes, sporting very impressive bonnets, dance around the stage, while the Statue of Liberty smiles on from the background. Her torch no longer holds a flame but a very large, very colorful bouquet of flowers. This was really the only part that connected the show to spring, that and the weird Easter Bunny that made his appearance at the very beginning and periodically throughout the show. He would just randomly pop up in the background, or run across the stage. He was the DJ for the fashion show scene.
All the main characters pile into a taxi and wave as they drive away across the stage to their happily ever after. The Rockettes appear again in gold sparkly costumes and dance while the song finishes playing.
So, like I said before, the stage designs, music and dancing was good. The rest was all a bit goofy. On our way back to Queens I made the comment, "Now we've seen that," to which Matt replied, "Whatever that was."
This sounds like a weird sort of Olympics opening ceremonies. But Laura Benanti was good, yes? Sounds like a fun evening.
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