When Linda Haberman was a little girl, her parents took her for her first trip to New York (all the way from Albuquerque, N.M.) at Christmastime.

        One of the things they did was go to Radio City Music Hall. It was back in the days when the live-onstage holiday extravaganza was packaged with a big holiday release movie.

Linda Haberman (center), director of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, joined the Rockette's creative team in 1990. (Gayle Harper photo) | ZOOM |

        Ms. Haberman doesn't remember what the movie was. What she remembers is the Rockettes, Radio City's precision kick line of dancers.

        She went on to be a dancer herself, although she took the Broadway route and never got around to being a Rockette. She later joined the Radio City show's creative team in 1990, and began directing the touring Radio City Christmas Spectacular, which opens Thursday for two weeks at the Aronoff Center, in 1994.

        She still gets a big kick out of it.

        Over its 60-plus years of productions, a few things have changed. The height requirements have broadened. It used to be that Rockettes had to be between 5'5” and 5'7”. Now dancers can be as tall as 5'10”.

        There are only 22 Rockettes on tour, not the 36 on the Radio City stage, and the show is tweaked every other year.

IF YOU GO

What: Radio City Christmas Spectacular.    When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 11 a.m., 2, 5 and 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Dec. 30; 1 p.m. Dec. 24 and Dec. 31; 4 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 26 and 28; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 27; 1, 4 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 29.    Where: Procter & Gamble Hall. Aronoff Center for the Arts.    Tickets: $20-$49.50. 241-7469.

        What doesn't change is the basic format of about a dozen scenes, most of them featuring the Rockettes, and a pair of vignettes that have been audience favorites since the curtain first went up. The Living Nativity and the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers are the keepers.

        The first-time Cincinnati show is coming from Branson, Mo. New to the show are a rethinking of the skating scene and a co-starring presence for Santa Claus.

        “The skating scene has been in the show since the '80s and it felt like it was done in the '70s,” muses Ms. Haberman. She's updated it — but carefully. You won't be seeing any hip-hop, for instance.

        “There are parameters to keep in mind,” she laughed by phone from her Long Island home. “It has to entertain children as well as adults.” She says she's something of a kid herself, which helps her decide on what would have the widest appeal.

        Santa traditionally comes into the show in the second act. Ms. Haberman transforms him into something of a narrator. “He's interwoven through the show, he sort of leads the audience on a Christmas journey.”

        Ms. Haberman says there's nothing not to like about her annual Radio City gig. “There are very few places where a director has a cast of 55, huge stages, all the scenery you could want — it's like a big playground to me. It's a creative opportunity you don't always get.”

        Ms. Haberman also travels the U.S. to audition Rockettes. Once the height requirement is met, she looks for “strong all-around dancers who can do tap, jazz and technique, after that I look for performance quality, an ability to pay attention to detail and an ability to work as part of a team.”

        Being a Rockette, she adds, is hard work. “Eight scenes four times a day? That takes stamina,” she says.

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