The Museum of Broadway highlights 100 years of Rockettes history in new exhibit

There are lineages of feminine power in American culture that refuse to dim, that burn through generations with the steadiness of a lighthouse and the sparkle of a chandelier. The Rockettes belong to that rare, mythic lineage. For one hundred years, these women have embodied a form of power that the world too often misunderstands: a power rooted in discipline so exacting it becomes poetry, in unity so seamless it becomes architecture, in glamour so precise it becomes a weapon. The Museum of Broadway’s new exhibition, The Rockettes 100th Anniversary: A Century of Sisterhood, restores this truth with the reverence it deserves. It is not merely a celebratory display; it is a testament to what happens when women claim the stage, command the gaze, and redefine the limits of their bodies and their brilliance.

The Rockettes began not as entertainment, but as a bold reimagining of modern womanhood. In the 1920s, when women were still fighting for the basic right to self-determination, a troupe of dancers from Missouri stepped forward with uncanny synchronicity, suggesting—not in speeches, but in kicks—that harmony, ambition, and ferocity could coexist inside a single line of women. When they arrived at Radio City Music Hall in 1932, they did not simply join the American cultural fabric; they rewrote it. Their precision became ritual. Their elegance became identity. Their stamina became legend.

This exhibition brings that century-long evolution into vivid, muscular clarity. The Museum of Broadway understands that the Rockettes have always been more than choreography; they are a living archive of feminine resilience. As guests trace their journey from Midwestern stages to the incandescent expanse of Radio City, the story that emerges is not merely one of entertainment, but of women holding their ground inside one of the most demanding performance traditions ever created. Sisterhood was not an accessory to their work. It was the infrastructure.

The Museum of Broadway’s new exhibition, The Rockettes 100th Anniversary: A Century of Sisterhood, is now open.Santiago Felipe/The Museum of Broadway

The exhibition’s presentation of costumes designed by Bob Mackie, Gregg Barnes, Marco Montedoro, Pete Menefee, and Vincente Minnelli elevates this narrative even further. Each garment is a study in female spectacle engineered for dominance—tailored to move, shimmer, and articulate a woman’s body as a conduit for story and power. These costumes are not decorative; they are armor. They speak to the way performance demands a union between the sensual and the structural, between fantasy and physical mastery. They remind us that femininity, when executed with intention, becomes both invitation and assertion.

The immersive elements—the famous Toy Soldiers, the visual portal into the Christmas Spectacular—offer another layer to this story. They allow visitors to step into the world that has, for decades, been shaped by women who understood the alchemy of discipline, charisma, and collective identity. The Rockettes’ choreography has always been a kind of coded language, one that communicates self-possession, unity, and stamina without uttering a word. Their bodies became their manifesto. Their lines became their legacy.

The Museum of Broadway, itself a female-founded institution, stands as the perfect steward of this centennial tribute. Its mission to honor the creators, visionaries, and unseen hands who built Broadway places the Rockettes squarely within the lineage of trailblazing women who transformed the American stage. Across its three floors, the museum documents theatrical history as an evolving tapestry of ambition and artistry. This new exhibition threads into that tapestry a story that is both glittering and profound: one hundred years of women performing at the highest level, not for the validation of others, but for the mastery of themselves.

The Museum of Broadway’s new exhibition, The Rockettes 100th Anniversary: A Century of Sisterhood, is now open.Santiago Felipe/The Museum of Broadway

To walk through A Century of Sisterhood is to feel the electricity of women who understood that their worth was not in shrinking, but in showing up with unbreakable unity and unassailable skill. It is to sense the force of those who pushed their bodies beyond exhaustion to create something transcendent, something mathematically precise and spiritually luminous. It is to witness a blueprint of feminine excellence rendered in satin, sequins, sweat, and sheer will.

This exhibition is a love letter to women who built an empire out of synchronization, who turned the choreography of the feminine body into an art form that outlasted eras, critics, and cultural shifts. It is a reminder that power need not roar to be formidable; sometimes it clicks its heels, lifts its chin, and holds its formation under stadium lights.

If you care about the history of performance, the evolution of feminine identity, or the unstoppable brilliance of women who refuse to be anything less than extraordinary, this exhibition is not something to observe—it is something to experience with awe. It is a century of sisterhood, triumph, and unapologetic female power. It deserves your time, your reverence, and your wholehearted attention.

Get your tickets for the museumofbroadway.com and make the holiday magic at Radio City Music Hall!

Santiago Felipe/The Museum of Broadway