With the scare that parade balloons might not fly because of poor weather, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade went off on November 28th this year. The weather cleared up enough to have the classic balloons, even though some suffered partial deflation because of the cold! It was only 31 degrees!
Perhaps one of the best parts of the parade is the pre-show. A few casts of shows currently on Broadway do a number or two, right in the middle of Herald Square in New York City. The performing shows included Motown: The Musical, Matilda the Musical, the revival of Pippin, and the Tony award winner for best musical: Kinky Boots. The performance of Kinky Boots sparked some controversy in the next few days over the fact that men were dancing in drag on national, holiday television! Macy’s stands by its decision to have them perform. They were great!
NBC promoted their upcoming event The Sound of Music, Live!, starring Carrie Underwood as Maria. There was a performance by two of the cast members, singing “16 Going on 17.” I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to watch it on December 5th!
There were some celebrity appearances such as Taylor Kinney from the television show, Chicago Fire. He said he was waiting to see the SpongeBob balloon, as many were! SpongeBob is the biggest celebrity there is! Classically, the Rockettes ended the performances with their long legs and crazy kicks, and the parade began!
The variety of floats was awesome as usual. From the weird Aflac float to the visually beautiful Sea World float, the parade had some interesting sights to see. On his float, the Kool-Aid Man’s smile measured 9 feet long!
Performances on the floats were as cute- and weird- as ever. As an audience we can forgive the singers for lip-syncing, because they are on a moving float in the middle of a highly populated street. Some of them had trouble with the abrupt movements though! I personally can’t get the image of Christmas Dora enthusiastically dancing to Ariana Grande’s “Last Christmas (I gave you my heart).”
Santa and Mrs. Claus ended the celebration in wonderful style and were extremely fashionble this year. Go Mrs. Claus!
As always, random people walked beside glorious floats dressed as leaves or like SpongeBob- to which my mother always says, “I could do that!”
But I’ve heard it much better to enjoy the parade from the comfort of your own home, in your pajamas, and with your TV. People who have gone, complain about the massive crowds and frigid weather. So if you were thinking about venturing out there one year, go for it! But remember there will be tons of freezing people who are trying to get a good look at massive balloons from just feet below them.
I’ll stick with the TV! I like seeing the balloons from the top and hearing the commentary!
Happy Holidays!