A Holiday Spectacular

In 1977, my wife and I had our first trip to Las Vegas. I can't remember the casino, but I think it may have been seizures. Ann Margaret was performing. We ordered two tickets, and then got to the show only a few minutes before it was supposed to start. We were guided down to the very front, and sat at a table right in front of the stage. So we got to watch Ann Margaret up close and personal. She is a singular talent and it was a pleasure to watch her in this movie.

The chemistry of the two main characters was terrific and believable. And watching the Rockettes was fun. I don't think enough people understand how incredibly talented these women are. The competition for each spot is intense. Loved it.

Margaret wants to join the Rockettes and perform in front of an audicience. So, one day, she lies to her parents and fiance and she just goes for it and auditions: she gets the part and moves to NYC just for the season. There she meets handsome John who also has a dream: go to NYU and become a photographer journalist.

It is unreal that they keep meeting everywhere in a city that is so big, but anyway... I read that a few of the details regarding the Rockettes are also off but we can let them slide when we are presented with such a beautiful story, right? Other than love, this story has friendship, it encourages people to follow their dreams, and being themselves. I also appreciate that none of the girls were made "the popular girl/villain".

Lovely movie, lovely cast. The leads had chemistry and honestly? I was charmed by both of them, specially Derek Klena and I'm gonna need him in a modern day Hallmark movie. Maybe he can even sing?

It is different than the usual movies Hallmark offers, you even forget you are watching that channel.

Although overall I enjoyed this movie, once again, Hallmark sacrifices reality for inclusivity. The movie takes place in 1958.

Over all, most of the acting was pretty good. I thought the lead actress is quite talented. As usual, the movie is pretty people wearing pretty clothes, and going to pretty places.

My biggest quibble is that one of the Rockettes is a Black woman who says she has been with the troupe for 10 years. The first African-American Rockette wasn't actually hired until 1988. I realize Hallmark is not the History Channel, but they are trying too hard to "be all things to all people".

Going for a period piece like this breaks the mold of the average Hallmark Christmas romance, but they still couldn't QUITE get away from the normal tropes. Both the romantic leads needed to "follow their dream". There was the typical split from the rich boyfriend for true love, and the always present crisis with the new boyfriend to be wrapped up in the last seven minutes.

Still, it was wonderful to see Ann-Margret. One never knows when she'll stop accepting roles, and she came off a LOT better here than Marlo Thomas did in her appearance a few weeks ago.

The Rockettes looked great. As others have mentioned, the Rockettes didn't integrate until 1988, and to this day only have two black dancers on the team. I'll give them a minor break in that they had to show the real Rockettes in the performance scenes, and they weren't going to ask two members to sit it out, so they kind of needed to show them in the acting scenes, or that would have stuck out.

My wife was more impressed with the movie than I, sort of a surprise with all those great looking women (and legs!) on display. :-)

She puts it in the "Watch again" category, while I put it in the "Glad I saw it but that's it category". :-)

What a spectacular movie! Ginna and Derek had a natural warmth and chemistry-and are a very talented duo! I loved the story and the full circle beautiful movie ending. It's hard to beat a New York City movie setting, the real Rockettes, multi-talented Broadway stars, Ann Margaret, and a well-written story from start to finish. I also loved the message this movie delivered to little girls watching from home-don't settle. Go after your dreams and dream big!

This movie made me think of the magic I experienced when my parents took me to NYC for the first time to see the Rockettes. This movie really is a love letter to all the hard work, talent, and passion that goes into delivering the magic to Radio City Music Hall visitors every single holiday season.