Getty The Radio City Rockettes perform "Curtain Call" during the 2016 New York Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall in New York on July 6, 2016.
One of Hallmark’s new 2022 Christmas movies is going to take place in the 1950s and focus on the Rockettes, according to a casting call shared on social media. Learn all about the new movie below and how you can take part if you’re in the region.
The Movie Is Set in 1957 & Is About a Woman Who Wants to Join the Rockettes
Hudson Valley Film shared a casting call about a Hallmark movie “set in 1957 about a woman who dreams of becoming a Rockette much to her family’s dismay.”
The movie is filming from the end of January through February in the New York regions of Albany, Newburgh, Beacon, and Staatsburgh, according to the post. Hudson Valley locals are asked to fill out a casting call form here, and both SAG and non-union inquiries are being accepted.
Poughkeepsie Journal reported that the movie is called “A Christmas Spectacular.”
Laurent Rejto, director of the Hudson Valley Film Commission, told Poughkeepsie Journal about the movie: “We were glad to hear from (casting director) Hilary Greer that she got a massive response to the call for background actors.”
The movie has already filmed at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall.
Hudson Valley Film Commission also shared that they are looking for local people who have a picture car from the late 1940s to the early 1950s for filming at the same time.
This isn’t the region’s first recently filmed period piece. HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” which takes place in the 1880s, was filmed in the region, along with also being filmed in New York City and Rhode Island locations.
The Rockettes were founded in 1925 and inspired by a British dance troupe, according to their website. At the time, a Rockette had to be between 5’2″ and just under 5’7″, but today a Rockette can be as tall as 5’10 1/2″. The group started with just 16 women and grew to include 36 dangers today.
In the 1950s, which is when the movie takes place, the Rockettes had so many performances at Radio City Music Hall that they sometimes worked and even slept there, since the facilities included 26 beds, a cafeteria, and even a hospital. Their first TV appearance was in the 1950s, and their first performance at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was in 1957, when the Hallmark movie takes place.
Hallmark’s ‘A Timeless Christmas’ & ‘Journey Back to Christmas’ Had Historical Themes
Very few of Hallmark’s movies take place in the past, unless the trip back is only for a short period of time or the character traveled back a few years to relive a pivotal life moment.
“A Timeless Christmas,” starring Ryan Paevey and Erin Cahill, took place in modern times but featured a character who traveled forward in time from 1903.
“Journey Back to Christmas” had a bit more of a historical theme, even though most of the movie took place in modern times. Candace Cameron Bure, Oliver Hudson, and Tom Skerritt starred. Bure played the role of a nurse who was accidentally transported forward in time from World War II, but she really wanted to find a way back to her time period.
Of course, Hallmark’s “When Calls the Heart” series takes place in the past, but even further back in time than the new Christmas movie that’s being made.
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