Radio City Music Hall - New York City - Live Stage Theaters on Waymarking.com

The 12 acre (49,000 m²) complex in midtown Manhattan known as Rockefeller Center was developed between 1929 and 1940 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., on land leased from Columbia University. Rockefeller initially planned a new home for the Metropolitan Opera on the site, but after the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the plans changed and the opera company withdrew from the project.

The names "Radio City" and "Radio City Music Hall" derive from one of the complex's first tenants, the Radio Corporation of America. Radio City Music Hall was a project of Rockefeller, Samuel Roxy Rothafel who previously opened the Roxy Theater in 1927, and RCA chairman David Sarnoff. RCA had developed numerous studios for NBC at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, just to the south of the Music Hall, and the radio-TV complex that lent the Music Hall its name is still known as the NBC Radio City Studios.

The Music Hall opened to the public on December 27, 1932 with a spectacular stage show, featuring Ray Bolger and Martha Graham. The opening was meant to be a return to high class variety entertainment. Unfortunately, it was not a success and on January 11, 1933, the first film was shown on the giant screen: Frank Capra's The Bitter Tea of General Yen starring Barbara Stanwyck.

Radio City has 5,933 seats for spectators; it became the largest movie theater in the world at the time of its opening. Designed by Edward Durell Stone, the interior of the theater, by Donald Deskey, incorporates glass, aluminum, chrome, and geometric ornamentation. Deskey rejected the Rococo embellishment generally used for theaters at that time in favor of a contemporary Art Deco style, borrowed heavily from a European Modern aesthetic style, of which he was the foremost exponent at the time.
For much of the theater's history, it presented both a movie and a stage show as part of the same program. By the 1970s, changes in film distribution made it difficult for Radio City to secure exclusive bookings of many films; furthermore, the theater preferred to show only G-rated movies, which became less common as the decade wore on. Regular film showings at Radio City ended in 1979, when Radio City was saved from a possible closure due to lack of funds. Movies and Movie premieres have occasionally been shown there in succeeding years. In 1980 after a renovation the Music Hall reopened with a focus on concerts and live stage shows.

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Theater Name: Radio City Musc Hall Country: USA Address: 1260 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY USA 10020 Web Site: [Web Link] Venue: Community Theater Type of Productions: Christmas Show Easter Show Awards shows various Concerts NFL Draft 2006-2007 Movies Restored Building: yes Date of Construction: 1929 Architect/Designer: Edward Durell Stone, Stage Type: Thrust Seating Capacity: 5933 Special Productions/Events/Festivals: Christmas Show featuring the Rockettes

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