Guide to the Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes

The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes is a holiday extravaganza blending music, dance, classic stories, and beloved characters, all brought to life with eye-popping sets, costumes, and even some high-tech video design.

The Rockettes, a world-famous precision dance troupe, perform routines to Christmas songs like “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Along the way, the Rockettes do ballet, tap, jazz, and of course, their iconic kick lines, all while staying perfectly synchronized.

Some of the Rockettes' most memorable routines include “The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” and “The Living Nativity.” There’s also a special guest that visits each show: Santa Claus!

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular plays every year at Radio City Music Hall, a 6,013-seat concert hall in Manhattan that's been hosting the annual holiday show for 92 years. (Although the Rockettes are celebrating their 100th year of performing in 2025, the Christmas Spectacular didn't premiere until 1933.)

The Rockettes have become synonymous with Radio City Music Hall, even helping save it from closure in the late 1970s.

The Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall is 90 minutes long and has no intermission.

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular begins on November 6, 2025, and runs through January 4, 2026. Once Thanksgiving week kicks off, there are as many as four shows per day through the end of the holiday season. Morning, afternoon, evening, and late-night showtimes are each available on select days.

For the complete performance schedule and showtimes, please visit the Radio City Christmas Spectacular page on New York Theatre Guide.

The Christmas Spectacular is an all-ages show, so the entire family can enjoy the holiday magic. Kids older than 2 will need a ticket, and those under 2 can attend for free, but they must remain on a guardian’s lap throughout the show.

The first Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes was in 1933, and the show has returned nearly every year since. The iconic Christmas show has had some updates along the way, including a total revamp in 2008 in honor of the Christmas Spectacular’s 75th anniversary. New costumes and musical numbers were added, including “New York at Christmas,” featuring a double decker bus on stage!

Most recently, the show was updated in 2024 with state-of-the-art visual effects and a prelude titled "We Need A Little Christmas."

The Rockettes are a precision dance troupe, consisting of over 80 dancers, that performs annually in the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. Celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, the Rockettes first began performing in 1925 as the “Missouri Rockets.” They relocated to New York City’s Radio City Music Hall in 1932 and performed the first Christmas Spectacular in 1933 as the Rockettes.

Though they occasionally perform outside of Radio City for special events like holiday tapings, awards shows, and even the Hallmark Christmas movie A Holiday Spectacular, they primarily perform during the holiday season in the Christmas Spectacular.

The Christmas Spectacular includes nine musical numbers, plus a prelude, over the course of the 90-minute show. Each number is a dance routine performed by the Rockettes to a popular Christmas song or festive music.

Some of the most famous routines are “The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,” “The Living Nativity,” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Though these numbers have stayed the same for decades, others have been added and revamped over the years, so you're guaranteed to have a different experience from year to year.

Below is a list of Radio City Christmas Spectacular musical numbers.

• "We Need A Little Christmas"
• "Sleigh Ride"
• "The Twelve Days of Christmas"
• "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers"
• "New York At Christmas"
• "Here Comes Santa Claus"
• "Ragdolls"
• "Dance of the Frost Fairies"
• "The Living Nativity"
• "Christmas Lights"

• The Radio City Rockettes perform for over 1 million people every holiday season.
• • Two of the most legendary performances, “The Living Nativity” and “The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,” have the same choreography as when the show premiered in 1933.
• See the night sky light up with dazzling stars at Radio City, which are really 100 drones soaring over the stage.
• Watch Santa fly over the audience in a high-tech 3D scene, which adds an unforgettable immersive element to the show.

Learn more fun facts about the Rockettes and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

Get Radio City Christmas Spectacular tickets on New York Theatre Guide. Whether you’re 2 or 92, the Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes is an experience everyone can enjoy. It’s a quintessential NYC bucket list item that has dazzled, entertained, and captivated guests for nearly a century — and it'll keep kicking for many holiday seasons to come.

Get Christmas Spectacular tickets now.