These are the days when the holiday spirit starts to get a grip on New York City. The ice-skating rinks open, the giant Christmas tree is hauled to the Rockefeller Centre and will soon be illuminated, and the corporate party invitations are handed out.
It is also the time of year when more than a million people head to the art deco Radio City Music Hall to watch the Christmas Spectacular - a show starring the long-legged ambassadors of American schmaltz, the Rockettes dancing troupe.
But this year, it has not been exactly a question of peace and goodwill to all at the theatre. The trouble started in October, when the Rockettes were briefly locked out by management at Radio City, which is owned by the media company Cablevision. That may have only lasted a few hours, but it was a harbinger of labour troubles to come. Last week, the show's orchestra walked out in a pay dispute ahead of a pre-season performance, forcing its cancellation and leaving many parents to trudge home with disappointed children in tow.
The show did go back on the next night, but it wasn't quite authentic. Management locked the orchestra out, so instead of live music to get the Rockettes stepping out, they were marching to taped tunes. It is thought to be the first time the New York show has been forced to use canned music in more than 70 years of performances. That is fine - unless you paid as much as US$250 for tickets to the show that includes such traditional seasonal favourites as the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, Nutcracker, Here Comes Santa Claus and The Living Nativity.
New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has declared that the dispute is 'very unfortunate', and questioned whether anyone believed that taped music was as good as an orchestra. But personal bitterness between union leader David Lennon and Cablevision head James Dolan may make this dispute a difficult one to settle.
It is certainly a challenge to the clean-living image that is supposed to be dished up by the Rockettes. The whole event is regarded as some kind of national treasure.
