Why visit
Radio City Music Hall opened in 1932 as the major entertainment venue within Rockefeller Center. Architect Edward Durell Stone designed the exterior and Donald Deskey created its interiors, using aluminum, chrome, glass, murals and rich textiles to express modern movement rather than traditional theatrical ornament.
What to see
The auditorium's sweeping walls and shallow balconies focus attention on a proscenium shaped like a radiant sunset. A sophisticated system of elevators can raise, lower and tilt stage sections, supporting films, concerts, large productions and the synchronized choreography closely associated with the Radio City Rockettes.
Plan your visit
Public foyers rise through staircases and lounges filled with commissioned artworks and period furnishings. Restored after a threatened closure in the 1970s, the hall remains both a working theater and an unusually complete Art Deco interior whose circulation, decoration and machinery were conceived as one coordinated performance environment.
