Student Blog: Broadway at the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

This past Thursday, the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade was able to operate at full capacity. While I watched it from my own home with my family, it was very refreshing to see the fans filling the stands on the broadcast. In addition to the spectacular Radio City Rockettes, Broadway's Moulin Rouge!, Six, and Wicked all took to the Macy's stage.

For me, my favorite performance was Six. It's new and fresh to Broadway this year and I felt that the original staging of the show is perfect for a performance at the Thanksgiving parade. What I love about Six is that the characters are so different yet they are connected by their respective relationships with King Henry VIII. During the performance, I felt like it was more a concert than a musical, and I think having the band on stage with them during their song made the number more original. They chose to do a mashup of the opening and closing numbers (Ex-wives and Six) which are the two numbers that showcase all six women equally. These numbers also emphasize the importance and power of the ensemble of this show. By picking these songs, it gives the audience a taste of what the show is about and displays the diverse personalities and mannerisms of each character without giving away too much of the story. This way, they can give a sort of teaser to a broad audience that then encourages people to buy tickets and go see the show for themselves.

I saw Moulin Rouge! before the pandemic and thought it was incredible. The movie is one of my favorites, and I thought that the musical had much more creative and current mash-ups which made the whole show more of a fantastical spectacle. However, for the parade, they chose to do Sparkling Diamond which is a stunning and dazzling number, but I don't think it shows the ensemble and overall essence of the show as much as it could have. Sparkling Diamond is the number that's closest to the original in the movie. Instead, I think using the opportunity to showcase a fresher and more unique number from the musical would've been more impactful. The choreography is so intricate and stylized in other numbers such as Welcome to the Moulin Rouge!, Crazy Rolling, and Backstage Romance, but I missed seeing that in Sparkling Diamond. I think doing something like the opening Welcome to the Moulin Rouge! with the song Lady Marmalade would've shown more spectacle and captured more about the whole vision of the show.

The Wicked performance was exactly as I expected. It was energetic, bright, and very magical. One Short Day is a vibrant ensemble number that has so many moving parts. Even without the traditional set, the staging of the entire song immerses the audience in the Emerald City and gives the impression that it's always bustling and full of so many people. This also mirrors to some extent the culture and atmosphere of New York City. This iconic Broadway show was a great choice to signify and welcome the return of theatre. It was very nostalgic for me and it reminded me how much I missed theatre during the pandemic.

While I haven't been able to go to New York City since before the pandemic, this was a great opportunity to experience theatre since the pandemic. I remembered how much I missed it and these performances made me even more excited to return to NYC.

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