My very first visit to NYC was at Christmastime when I was in high school when my mother brought me and my siblings into the city to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. For a dancer/theater lover like myself, it was truly the most magical experience, and it was then and there that I decided that someday, I too, was going to be a New Yorker.
Fast forward many, many years later to my grad school graduation and it ended up being held at Radio City! I practically skipped across the stage, making sure to pause right in the middle to blow mom a kiss (she was somewhere in that huge audience of 6,000 seats!) This classic venue holds quite a bit of sentiment to me.
So, when I heard about the Radio City Stage Door Tour, I was stoked. The tours leave every half hour, so we jumped on an afternoon tour (that coincided with the Christmas Spectacular, so extra festive excitement!) The tour lasts an hour, and takes you into the private Rockefeller viewing suite, through the back corridors of the theater, past the Rockettes’ warm-up and audition rooms, and it includes a meet and greet with a Rockette!
Of course all along the way we were fed tidbits of info about the history of Radio City (opened on December 27, 1932!), the Rockettes (in peak season they perform 6 shows a day…the girls are split into morning and afternoon shows to take some of the pressure off!) and the theater’s memorable moments (Bette Midler shattered a record at Radio City in 1993 by selling out 30 shows!)
Whether you’re a theater lover, have littles that love dance, or just want a fun and festive and WARM tour of a piece of NYC history, this tour is definitely one to keep in mind! Reservations aren’t needed, but you can score a bit of a discount for booking tickets online.
Jessica Tiare Bowen lives in the juicy Big Apple with her adorable pink-nosed chihuahua, Gillman. He’s the inspiration for her first published children’s book, “Park Avenue Pound Puppy.” The book is the combined result of her two greatest passions: pooches and penning stories.
Her passions include art, urban hikes through Manhattan, drinking coffee with 3 creams and 6 sugars, making extremely detailed itineraries and traveling to far away places, singing along to Broadway shows, Netflix movie nights, discovering incredible treasures at Goodwill and thrift stores, and listening to stories from little people under 7 and big people over 70.
She started her career as New York City Teaching Fellow, teaching elementary school and theater arts at a special education school in the South Bronx for 6 years. She is now a Special Education School Improvement Specialist working in public schools throughout New York City. She is the Editor-In-Chief of the online New York City travel magazine, Used York City. The magazine focuses on finding the best of New York…as used by New Yorkers. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and an ASPCA Ambassador.
