The Radio City Christmas Spectacular is in its 82nd year this year. Not sure what your concept of time is, but that is, in fact, a lot of years that show's been running.

It's one of New York City's most beloved holiday shows, which you may have already guessed by the fact that it's been staged every year in this city since 1933.

It's also one of the city's most popular holiday traditions: before the show closes on January 3rd, more than one million people will fill the seats at Radio City to marvel at the show's magic.

Why is the show so magical?

Well, so much goes into making it. Hundreds of stage hands, months and months of practice, and then an unbelievable number of performances are piled into creating the show's magic. This, plus unbelievably advanced technological props are part of what make this show so enchanting.

Read on to learn 7 more facts about Radio City's Christmas Spectacular. Then, get yourself some tickets.

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1. Radio City Music Hall is the largest indoor theatre in the world

Yup, that's right. It's an entire city-block long. That's how big it is.

Were you curious about the exact measurements of this mammoth of a theatre? Great. The auditorium measures 160 feet, and the ceiling is 84 feet tall.

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Also, because of the architecture of its interior (there are no columns obstructing views) and stacked seating, there really isn't a seat in Radio City Music Hall that doesn't have an immaculate view of the stage. Well, provided that everyone remembered to bring their glasses.

Plus, the shimmering gold stage curtain is the largest in the world. Also, the Hall contains more than 25,000 lights and four-color stage lighting. So, that's pretty excellent.

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2. The Christmas Spectacular is attended by more than one million people annually

Since its creation in 1932, the Christmas Spectacular has premiered in 74 cities outside New York with its regional touring production.

Plus, of course, in NYC as well. Radio City has a seating capacity of 6,000.

Some of the songs in the production have been staged every year since the show's beginning; including "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" and the "Living Nativity."

Some of America's most popular entertainers have graced Radio City's stage, performers like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and BB King. It remains one of NYC's most beloved holiday traditions today.

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3. Any given season, there are 80 women who are Rockettes

"We have two separate casts, each cast has 36 women onstage a a time," Rockette Morgan Hartley told Fox News.

Here's a shocking piece of information: the Rockettes do their own hair and makeup. 

"They just tell us to wear red lips, fake lashes, and a French twist. And however that's going to look on me is how I'm going to look in the show," Hartley said.

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Their red cheeks? These are apparently the result of magic double-sided tape, of which the Rockettes use 15,000 every season.

We're pretty floored by this information, as we pictured a backstage stacked with hours of grooming. Apparently, this is not the case.

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4. The Rockettes practice full-time for four months

The Rockettes' rehearsals start in September and stretch every weekday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

"We rehearse at a church," Hartley said. "Our rehearsal space looks exactly like our stage will look. So everything is exactly the same."

This specificity of the stage helps the Rockettes perfect their routine when they do perform in front of thousands.

"Even as much as a couple of inches can make a big difference when you are on stage at the same time," Hartley said.

During the season, the Rockettes perform the hour-and-a-half show 17 times a week. Which is a ton.

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5. Each Rockette goes through eight costumes a show

Can you imagine changing so quickly that you could go through eight costume changes during the span of one show?

When they dance onto the double decker bus dressed in soldier gear, they've got about 78 seconds to change into their New York at Christmas costumes.

"We change our shoes, take off our pants, put on the red or green sequin dress, we put on gloves, we put on earrings, we put on a hat, we put on a jacket. All of that happens on the stage in the wings," Hartley said.

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So, we don't want to ruin the magic of the show for you, but the odds are that if a dancer disappears from the stage, she's going to emerge wearing a new costume. A costume that was more likely than not the result of some very frantic changing.

Their heaviest costume, their "Santa Suit," weighs 40 pounds. Could you imagine doing aerobic dances around a stage wearing a 40 pound costume? We can't.

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6. Becoming a Rockette has strict physical requirements

It may look like every single Rockette on stage is the exact same height, but that, friends, is an optical illusion.

The tallest Rockettes dance in the center, and the shorter ones are at the end.

Still, you can't become a Rockette unless you're between 5'6" and 5'10" which, as we said, are pretty strict parameters. 

You also have to be stellar at dancing, which may seem like an obvious requisite, but it also amplifies the show in unexpected ways. For instance, the Rockettes have microphones in their shoes, which magnify the taps during their "12 Days of Christmas" routine.

Also, you might think they're actually resting their hands on each other's shoulders during their high kicks, but they're not. They're resting their hands on the fabric of each other's costumes.

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7. There are 250 people working each production

This includes people working the props, the set, and the costume crews (including sound people who place those microphones in the Rockette's shoes in the first place).

The set is way complicated. According to Timeout, the snowflake bubbles that soar into the sky from the orchestra pit are studded with GPS trackers.

There are also 25 wardrobe professionals whose jobs are facilitating all those crazy costume changes we discussed earlier.

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You'll probably also notice some pretty elaborate props dangling from the ceiling above the stage. The grand total weight of these props is 60,000 pounds, including that double decker bus. The bus weighs seven tons and dangles 23 feet in the air.

All-in-all, the production is intimate, and all the more astounding because of all the moving parts that have to align to make it work.

Check out 7 Surefire Ways to Piss Off a New Yorker During the Holiday Season. 

[Feature Image Courtesy BroadwayBox]