Radio City Music Hall: 7 Spectacular Facts About the Iconic Venue You Didn’t Know

In the last 10 years, Lauren Renck Manning has performed roughly 1,000 shows as a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall. “At the top of each show, I feel like it’s my very first time,” the dancer tells AD. “The magnitude of the theater and the weight of its history is never lost on me.” Though millions of people visit the illustrious venue every year, only a few, like Renck Manning, get to see it from the stage perspective. “When the curtain rises, as a performer, you are instantly reminded that you are a part of something much bigger than yourself,” she says. “With every performance, I glance out as the orchestra starts and see 6,000 seats that have brought joy and escape to so many since 1932.”

Now nearly a century old, the Art Deco theater has become an emblem of the New York City arts and culture scene. “When you are on the stage, it’s hard not to be in awe of the immense talent that has graced the same space,” Renck Manning says. Though the shows inside certainly dazzle, it’s also fair to say the building’s architecture and design has played an equally important role in the venue’s lasting legacy. Below, learn more about Radio City Music Hall’s impressive history through seven little-known details about the legendary space.