Radio City Music Hall HD Ready
""The Radio City Music Hall Grand Re-Opening,"" a one-hour musical and comedy tribute to the restoration of ""The Showplace of the Nation"" starring Billy Crystal; Rosie O'Donnell; Jon Stewart (""The Daily Show""); Lou Bega (whose single ""Mambo No.5"" is currently No. 4 on Billboard's Top 100) and the Radio City Rockettes, among others, will be telecast in December on NBC in HDTV. Also appearing in the special will be Tom Brokaw (""NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw,"" ""The Greatest Generation"") of NBC News, Grammy Award winners Sting and Tony Bennett; humorist Bruce Vilanch (""Hollywood Squares,"" ""Get Bruce!""), 98 Degrees and screen legends Liza Minnelli, Ann-Margret, Ann Miller and Raquel Welch. The special was taped October 4, 1999, during the famed venue's re-opening night gala, an event to launch the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research. The foundation was created in tribute to Marc Lustgarten, Vice-Chairman of Cablevision Systems Corporation and Chairman of Madison Square Garden, who recently lost his 16-month battle with the disease. During the special, Brokaw made a presentation explaining the work of the Lustgarten Foundation. ""We're extremely pleased to present this tribute to one of this country's best-known entertainment landmarks and to help launch the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research,"" said Bob Wright, President and CEO of NBC. ""This will be a bittersweet evening for us. Marc was a good friend to so many of us in the industry. We are deeply committed to helping the Foundation that has been created in his honor."" ""This will be a great night for Radio City Music Hall - a showplace that marked a career milestone for so many of the world's great entertainers,"" said James L. Dolan, President and CEO of Cablevision Systems Corporation. ""We are especially pleased that NBC is making it possible for people across the country to share in the excitement of the Music Hall's grand re-opening and that The Lustgarten Foundation will forever be associated with what promises to be a magical and historical evening."" The special is produced by Radio City Entertainment and NBC Entertainment in association with Cossette Productions, and directed by Bruce Gowers. Included in the special are highlights of some of the luminaries who have appeared on the historic stage from the Music Hall's archives, as well as highlights from award shows telecast from the theatre, such as The Grammy Awards, The MTV Video Music Awards, The Tony Awards and The Daytime Emmy Awards. In addition, the world-famous Radio City Rockettes will premiere two new dance numbers. Closed for seven months since mid-February, 1999, Radio City Music Hall has undergone a faithful, $70 million restoration, the first complete restoration since the Music Hall's initial opening (a comparatively minor refurbishment took place during the mid-'70s). Radio City Music Hall opened in 1932, within the architectural marvel, Rockefeller Center, an art deco retail and office complex in the heart of Manhattan (which is also the headquarters of NBC). Calling itself ""The Showplace of the Nation,"" the Music Hall presented exclusive, first-run motion pictures. In the format of the day, the daily screenings were interspersed with the Music Hall's own in-house produced stage shows featuring its world-famous 36-member precision dance corps, the Rockettes. This format of feature films and live stage shows continued until the early '70s. The restoration will include installation of all new seating for the 5,901 capacity theatre, reproduced by the original seat manufacturer in the original colors. The glorious art deco murals have been restored and new woven carpeting, recreating the Hall's original color and pattern, has been installed, along with a new two-ton curtain (2,000 fabric yards). 675,000 square feet of silver foil leafing now cover the cavernous ceiling. The signature art deco proscenium arch has new architectural lighting and the two Wurlitzer organs and pipes, along with the stage's front and rear hydraulic elevators, which lift and lower the orchestra pit, have been completely refurbished. Additionally, the Music Hall has been rewired for HDTV to accommodate future broadcasts. Hugh Hardy, founder of HHPA (Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates), was the chief architect of the Radio City Music Hall restoration. Source: NBC