Radio City plays host to the Christmas Spectacular every holiday season and now a new show called the New York Spring Spectacular has just made its debut at the famous music hall. Contributing critic David Cote of Time Out New York filed this review.

The Rockettes and the creative army behind Radio City Music Hall’s New York Spring Spectacular want to turn you into a tourist in your own town - not so hard to do. Gentrification, chain stores, everyone staring at phones and tablets - sometimes it is hard to see the real New York through this brand-saturated mediascape.

Full disclosure: one of the creative directors is Diane Paulus, sister of Time Warner Cable News’ senior vice president Steve Paulus. The struggle between digital dazzle and the history and culture that surrounds us takes center stage in this wall-to-wall pop-culture fun ride, which neatly combines visual flash with old-fashioned hometown pride. The sketchy plot for this dance-driven revue involves tech mogul Jenna, that is, frisky Laura Benanti, who wants to turn an old-fashioned tour guide service digital. Jack, played by Dancing with the Stars’ Derek Hough, is a hunky angel sent down by God to save the business. Naturally, Whoopi Goldberg, who also plays the Statue of Liberty, voices the Supreme Being. Dancers and actors alike are inevitably dwarfed in the cavernous Radio City space, but it doesn’t matter; director-choreographer Warren Carlyle keeps the Rockettes doing what they do so well, while the production finds inventive ways to use 3D animation, jumbo video monitors and humongous animatronic puppets. The show takes you to Grand Central Station, Central Park and the top of the Empire State Building with a mix of new tunes, samples from pop hits, and lushly orchestrated classics.

It is gaudy and grandiose by nature, but let us face it, even for those of us who have been here for years, aren’t some tourist traps worth falling into?