The Rockettes' NEW YORK SPRING SPECTACULAR, With Laura Benanti and Derek Hough, Kicks Off Tonight

The New York Spring Spectacular, presented by Chase, will include cameos by various celebrities, making the brand new production at Radio City Music Hall an all-star collaboration. Joining Whoopi Goldberg, who voices the Statue of Liberty puppet and Bella Thorne, who voices the Alice in Wonderland statue, are Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who will be lending their voices to The New York Public Library lion statues.

New York Spring Spectacular also stars the Rockettes along with Tony Award winning actress Laura Benanti as the female lead, Jenna; Emmy Award winning choreographer Derek Hough as the male lead, Jack; Lenny Wolpe as Bernie and Jared Grimes as Marshall. The production will also include celebrity video cameos by 50 Cent, Odell Beckham Jr., Victor Cruz, Walt Frazier, John Leguizamo, Al Michaels, Kelly Ripa, Mariano Rivera and Sam Rosen, in addition to the previously announced cameos by Carmelo Anthony, Henrik Lundqvist, Martha Stewart and Donald Trump. Illumination Entertainment's Minions, Paddington Bear, aerialists and the Easter Bunny will also appear.

The production is jointly produced by Madison Square Garden Entertainment and Weinstein Live Entertainment. The limited seven week engagement begins previews tonight, March 12, 2015 and runs through May 3, 2015.

"Combining the extraordinary talents of performers and celebrities such as Carmelo Anthony, Laura Benanti, Tina Fey, Whoopi Goldberg, Derek Hough, Henrik Lundqvist, Amy Poehler and Bella Thorne with our award-winning creative team is my own personal version of the 'Dream Team,'" said Harvey Weinstein, producer of New York Spring Spectacular.

New York Spring Spectacular celebrates the magic of New York and its most iconic landmarks, from The New York Public Library to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition, one particular scene honors the best of New York sports with the Rockettes performing sports-inspired choreography, where the featured athletes and entertainment icons will make video cameo appearances.

Bursting with invigorating new Rockettes dance numbers, incredible 3D special effects, sophisticated large-scale puppetry and an exciting soundtrack of original songs, classics and pop hits, including Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York," New York Spring Spectacular is as rejuvenating, energetic and uplifting as spring itself - and a reminder that while things may change, nothing can take away the timeless magic and romance of the one and only New York City!

New York Spring Spectacular takes audiences on a whirlwind adventure across New York City while telling an inspiring and hopeful narrative about New Yorkers who change each other's lives in unexpectedly wonderful ways. Bernie, played by Wolpe, has been giving old fashioned tours of New York for decades, but his company was just bought by Jenna, played by Benanti, a whip smart techie with plans to fire Bernie and turn his tours into a virtual reality wonderland. Bernie is in trouble. Enter Jack, played by Hough, a spirited young man with a secret agenda of his own: If he can help Bernie keep his job, Jack will get an eternal reward.

With the assistance of the legendary Rockettes, Bernie takes Jenna -- and the audience -- on the tour of a lifetime, from the Statue of Liberty to Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By the last stop on this whirlwind adventure, this group of people will be forever changed, and they will never look at the city the same way again.

Tickets on sale now at www.rockettes.com/spring.

New York Spring Spectacular is led by Director and Choreographer Warren Carlyle, a Tony and Drama Desk Award winning director and choreographer, including for such popular Broadway productions as The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Christmas Story: The Musical and After Midnight, which he also directed and for which he won both the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Choreographer. Working by his side are Co-Creative Directors Diane Paulus and Randy Weiner. Paulus is a Tony Award winning director for the A.R.T.'s Pippin and was among 2014's TIME 100, TIME Magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Weiner is the creator of the Off-Broadway extravaganza Queen of the Night at the Paramount Hotel and is a frequent collaborator with Paulus, most recently working together to create Amaluna for Cirque Du Soleil. Weiner is also the producer of the Drama Desk Award winning New York premiere of Punchdrunk's Sleep No More. Writer Joshua Harmon made his professional New York playwriting debut with the critically acclaimed play Bad Jews, which was produced by Roundabout Underground and was the first play to transfer to the Roundabout's Laura Pels Theatre in October 2013. It received Outer Critics Circle and Lortel nominations for Best Play. Harmon earned degrees in playwriting from Northwestern and Carnegie Mellon and studied at Julliard's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights program. Mia Michaels is the choreographer of the opening number and is well-known for her work on the Fox Television Show, So You Think You Can Dance, and has collaborated with artists such as Prince, Madonna and Celine Dion. Variety Magazine named Michaels "One of the Most Innovative Women" of 2013 and she has received multiple Emmy Awards for Outstanding Choreography. Michaels will also be lending her talents to Finding Neverland, which opens on Broadway in 2015.

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