Radio City Christmas Spectacular 2026: Dates, Show Length and How to Go

The 2026 Christmas Spectacular runs from Wednesday, November 4, 2026 to Monday, January 4, 2027, at Radio City Music Hall. The show is 90 minutes with no intermission. Buy from rockettes.com, go on a weekday in November if you can, and be in your seat 30 minutes early.

It’s the most performances the show has ever had: 230 of them. That many shows means getting a seat is easier than people think. Getting a good one on a December Saturday is not.

The short answer

• When: November 4, 2026 to January 4, 2027.
• Where: Radio City Music Hall, Sixth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets.
• How long: 90 minutes, no intermission.
• Best time: a weekday in November. The city isn’t full yet and neither is the hall.
• Worst time: the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and any December weekend evening.
• Tickets: rockettes.com, through Ticketmaster. Prices change by date and seat, so check there.
• Worth it? With kids, on a first trip, or as a family tradition, yes. If you’ve seen it before and the price stings, skip it. The free version of Christmas in Midtown is a block away: the tree, the Saks light show and the Fifth Avenue windows.

What’s new this year

The show adds a new scene for 2026. It’s a tap number called Ring, set to Carol of the Bells and choreographed by Chloe Arnold. That makes ten Rockettes numbers in one show.

The other change is the cameras. Several on-stage cameras film the dancers from overhead, the side and the front, live, and put it on screens beside the stage during every number. Radio City holds almost 6,000 people, so this matters most to the ones in the back.

The rest is what people come back for: the kick line, the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers and the Living Nativity, both in the show since it opened at Radio City in 1933. If you’ve seen it before, the new number is the reason to go again.

When to go

November is the smart month. The show opened Wednesday, November 4. Until Thanksgiving, the Midtown crowd is ordinary and the hall is easier to book. You also miss the worst of the sidewalk traffic around Rockefeller Center after the tree goes up.

Weekday matinees are the easiest seats to get in December. Evening shows on Fridays and Saturdays go first.

Pair it, but plan the order. Radio City is one block from the Rockefeller Center tree. The tree went up on Saturday, November 7 and is lit Wednesday, December 2. An evening show lets thousands of people out onto the same sidewalks, most of them heading to the tree, so see the tree before your show, or early the next morning.

Getting in without stress

• Arrive 30 minutes before showtime. Doors open an hour before. Radio City asks for 30 minutes and means it.
• Late? You wait for a break between scenes before an usher seats you. Some scenes don’t allow seating at all.
• Bags: small enough to fit under your seat. Over 22 by 14 by 9 inches, it’s not coming in. There’s no bag check, except for strollers. Everything is x-rayed.
• Bathrooms: go before the show. There’s no intermission, so leaving means missing a number.
• Effects: the show uses confetti, smoke, flashing lights, pyrotechnics and drones. Sensory bags, with noise-canceling headphones and fidget tools, are free to borrow at the Guest Services Desk in the Grand Foyer. You leave an ID.

Getting there

Radio City is on Sixth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets. The entrances are on 50th and 51st Street, and the accessible entrance is the box office lobby at the corner of 50th and Sixth.

• Subway: the B, D, F or M to 47–50 Sts–Rockefeller Center, a block south.
• From Penn Station: the 1 train to 50 St, then two blocks east to Sixth Avenue.
• Don’t take a car to a December show. Midtown traffic around the tree is slow at every hour.
• New to the trains? Read the NYC subway for first timers.

With kids

It’s 90 minutes straight through, which is about the limit for small children, and there’s no break to reset. Go to the bathroom right before, sit on the aisle if you can, and pick a matinee over an evening show. There’s one sensory-friendly performance, on Sunday, November 8 at 9:30am. For the rest of a family trip, see NYC with kids.

Check before you go

• Showtimes for your date, on rockettes.com
• Ticket prices, which vary by date and seat
• The bag policy, which Radio City can change

The rest of the season

• Rockefeller tree lighting 2026: December 2, and how to see the tree without the crowd
• NYC holiday windows walking route: the windows, one direction, no backtracking
• Ice skating in NYC 2026: every rink, including the one under the tree
• NYC Christmas markets 2026: which to go to, and when each opens
• NYC Holiday Train Show 2026: the other ticket families book early
• Things to do in NYC in November 2026 and in December 2026

Questions about anything in this guide? Reach MUSEENYC at museenyc.art@gmail.com or @museenyc on Instagram.

The show is 90 minutes. The rest of December in Midtown → museenyc.com