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Canwest News Service
Jessie the Camel, along with his donkey and sheep pals, are settled into their quarters at Radio City Music Hall, ready for the traditional Living Nativity scene. Also gearing up to go onstage: 80 Rockettes — two teams of 36 dancers, plus swings — as the 77th annual Christmas Spectacular gets underway.
Musical Numbers
Highlights of this year's show include New York at Christmas, in which the Rockettes "travel" across the stage via Gray Line double-decker bus, as one of the world's largest LED screens flashes different city locations behind them.
In Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, which has been performed every year since 1933, the Rockettes fall aside like a chain of dominoes. In the finale, Let Christmas Shine, each dancer wears a costume embedded with 3,000 Swarovski crystals.
More than 1,200 costumes are worn, with each Rockette switching outfits eight times.
Tours, Twitter
If you're coming to the city for the spectacular, consider the theatre's Stage Door Tour, where guests are led around the Art Deco interior, learn about the Great Stage and tour the private apartment of Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel, who opened the theatre in 1932 with a precision dance troupe called the "Roxyettes" . . . later, of course, renamed.
There are five additions to the tour this year, including an updated montage of images in the Rockette gallery and a video about the stage hydraulics. (Tour tickets, $10-$18.50. Call 866-858-0008.)
You also can keep up with the Rockettes via Twitter and Facebook, where the dancers make daily posts featuring pictures of the animal "load-in" at the theatre or behind-the-scenes shots of appearances on TV shows.
Radio City Christmas Spectacular
Through Dec. 30, Radio City Music Hall, New York, N.Y. Tickets are $45-$105, call 212-307-1000 or e-mail radiocitychristmas.com.
