This year marks the Radio City Rockettes’ one hundredth anniversary, and the annual Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall is an aptly named feat. The century-old show has inspired big-budget iterations in evangelical circles nationwide, including in my home state of Texas. But whereas the Rockettes use spectacle to amplify the sacred foundations of Christmas, these evangelical spin-offs are often excessive and irreverent, losing sight of the reason why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

…The Rockettes’ show famously ends with a living nativity. No longer dressed as reindeers, toy soldiers, frost fairies, elves, rag dolls, or New Yorkers, the performers process across the stage en route to seeing the birth of baby Jesus. With camels, donkeys, and sheep in tow, everyone in the audience hears the Christmas story narrated. The performers, and much of the audience, sing “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” giving glory to the newborn king as the Holy Family is elevated and venerated by the performers on bended knee. It’s an arresting display of public Christianity.

…The Bible Belt has its own renditions of the Christmas Spectacular that often provoke the ire of online commentators. Typically, the show, or at least the version with which I’m familiar, largely follows the same format as the Rockettes’: beginning with more secular Christmas imagery, song, and dance, and ending with a living nativity. These shows take place in megachurches that can seat thousands, and run for about a week. A description of the Christmas Spectacular in Houston, Texas, states that the show is meant to capture “the wonder and the true meaning of Christmas.” Read more»

Jillian Parks | “Christmas Spectacles, Good and Bad” | December 18, 2025

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