By Ryan Pelosi ’26
Radio City Music Hall in New York City is one of the most famous stages in the world, especially around Christmas, for the renowned Radio City Christmas Spectacular show. On Friday, December 1st, 2023, the Choruses of Don Bosco Prep and Mary Help of Christians got the opportunity to give a performance onstage at Radio City to open for the Radio City Rockettes, the performers in the famed Christmas spectacular. As a member of the Don Bosco Prep Chorus, I was excited to participate in this festive event.

The bus left Bosco for New York at the very early time of 6:00 in the morning, and arrived at around 7:20 AM at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. After taking pictures there and just hanging out for a bit, we headed to Radio City to prepare for our performance. The show was at 10, meaning our performance was somewhere around 9:45-9:50. At around 8:45, we entered the venue, and warmed up. Unfortunately, we did not get to go onstage before our performance, but that’s likely because the tech crew was trying to make sure the stage was ready for the actual show. As our performance time neared, we saw the seats start to fill up, and we waited to enter onstage, nerves building. Finally, at 9:45, we were led onstage in front of the crowd, and our performance began. We sang “Carol of the Bells”, “0 Holy Night”, and “Let It Snow”. When we were finished and walking offstage, we were actually able to catch a glimpse of some of the technical equipment backstage, although it was hard to tell what the tech specifically did. At last, we were able to sit in our seats, watch the show, and then take the bus home.

Radio City is a very unique experience. The stage alone is probably the best stage I have ever and will ever sing on, much less all the other experiences with my chorus friends there. I would absolutely go back again, if I had the chance.