In the heart of Manhattan’s midtown maze, where the pulse of the city quickens to the rhythm of twinkling lights and hurried shoppers, the 93rd annual Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting stands as New York’s most enduring yuletide beacon—a spectacle that transforms a 75-foot Norway spruce from upstate’s quiet groves into a glittering colossus crowned by a 900-pound Swarovski star. On Wednesday, December 3, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET, NBC and Peacock TV broadcast the two-hour extravaganza live from the iconic plaza, a star-studded symphony of song, dance, and seasonal splendor that draws millions to screens and sidewalks alike. But this year’s edition pulses with an extra layer of country-fried charm, thanks to host Reba McEntire, the Oklahoma-born powerhouse whose twangy timbre has defined decades of hits. Reba isn’t just emceeing the merry mayhem; she’s stepping into the feathered frenzy as an honorary Rockette, trading her signature fringe for high-kicks and precision choreography in a nod to the legendary troupe’s 100th anniversary. “Kicking it with the Honorary Rockette Reba McEntire—tune in Wednesday at 8/7c on NBC and Peacock TV to see us perform at the Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting!” the official Opry-affiliated social blast teased, capturing the buzz that’s rippled from Music Row to Radio City. With performances from a lineup that spans pop divas to Broadway belters, Reba’s dual role as host and honorary high-kicker promises to infuse the tradition with her unshakeable blend of grit, grace, and gleeful showmanship, turning a holiday staple into a hoedown under the halo of holiday lights.

The Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting isn’t mere ceremony; it’s a cultural cornerstone, a mid-December milestone that signals the official unfurling of the festive flag since its debut in 1931, when a modest 20-foot balsam fir twinkled with 700 bulbs for Depression-weary office workers. Fast-forward nearly a century, and the event has ballooned into a global phenomenon: a 75-foot-tall behemoth sourced from East Greenbush, New York, this year hauled by flatbed through a hero’s welcome parade down Fifth Avenue on November 9, its boughs bowed under 50,000 multicolored LEDs that will blaze for 24/7 until the New Year’s ball drops. The Swarovski star atop it all—a crystalline comet weighing as much as a grand piano and studded with 970 facets—ascends like a celestial crown, engineered by architect Edward Starck to refract light into a prism of prismatic joy. Broadcast live since 1951, the special has evolved from black-and-white broadcasts to high-def extravaganzas, blending A-list anthems with feel-good flair: think Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” belted amid falling flakes in 1994, or Idina Menzel reprising “Let It Go” as faux snow swirled in 2014. This 2025 iteration, produced by Done + Dusted (the wizards behind Coachella’s stage sorcery), amps the anniversary ante: the Radio City Rockettes, those precision paragons of leg-lifting lore, mark a century since their 1925 founding by Russell Markert, their high-kick heritage honed from vaudeville vamps to Christmas Spectacular staples. Reba’s honorary enlistment? It’s the cherry on this confection, a country queen crashing the can-can in a feathered headdress and fishnets that nod to her own Broadway bows in Annie Get Your Gun.

Reba McEntire, at 70, remains country’s indomitable force—a redheaded revelation whose voice, a velvet twister of alto ache and soprano soar, has sold 75 million albums and snagged three Grammys since her 1976 Oklahoma rodeo debut. Born in McAlester to a world-champion steer roper dad and barrel-racing mom, Reba grew up harmonizing in haylofts and honky-tonks, her family’s Faded Love band a front-porch forge for her future fame. By 1984, Mercury Records had minted her a star with “Whoever’s in New Orleans,” a sultry shuffle that cracked the Top 10, launching a streak of 24 No. 1s—from the sassy “Fancy” (a cover of her idol Lefty Frizzell’s 1953 tearjerker) to the heartfelt “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.” She’s weathered wildfires literal and figurative: the 1991 plane crash that claimed seven bandmates, a 2016 divorce from manager Narvel Blackstock after 26 years, and a Broadway blaze in Annie Get Your Gun that earned her a 2001 Tony nom. Reba’s reinventions are her rocket fuel— from The Voice coaching throne (where her twangy wisdom guided Season 28’s underdogs) to sitcom stardom in Reba (2001-2007, a syndication juggernaut) and its 2025 revival Happy’s Place, a barroom banter fest co-starring Melissa Peterman. Her 2024 ACM Lifetime Achievement Award cemented her as country’s conscience: a feminist firebrand who’s championed LGBTQ+ rights, launched Reba’s Place (a three-story honky-tonk empire in Atoka, Oklahoma), and headlined Yellowstone’s Dutton Ranch stage in 2023’s Season 5 premiere. Hosting the Tree Lighting? It’s Reba’s Rockefeller rodeo—a first for her, but fitting for a woman who’s headlined the CMAs 17 times and the ACMs a dozen more.

The honorary Rockette gig is pure Reba—playful panache meets powerhouse precision, a high-kick homage to the troupe’s trailblazing trail. Founded amid the Roaring ’20s as the Missouri Rockets, the 36-strong sisterhood (all between 5’6″ and 5’11”, with legs that launch in unison like synchronized thunder) exploded onto Radio City Music Hall’s stage in 1933, their eye-high extensions and tap-tap-taps a Depression-era dopamine hit. Over a century, they’ve headlined 6,000+ Christmas Spectacular shows, from the 1933 opener with a Rockette Santa sleigh ride to the 2024 LED-lit extravaganza featuring 3D Nutcracker projections. Reba’s enlistment, announced November 14 via a sassy social reel of her practicing kicks in a Nashville studio (fringe flying, grin infectious), is a milestone mashup: the Queen of Country channeling the Queens of Kick. “I’ve always admired their strength and sparkle—now I get to join the line!” she quipped in a pre-event presser, her Oklahoma twang twinkling. Rehearsals, held under wraps at Radio City’s subterranean studios, blended ballet bars with boot-scootin’ basics: Reba, in leggings and legwarmers, syncing splits and shimmies with the squad, her laughter echoing like jingle bells. “She’s a natural—fierce footwork and that Reba rhythm,” a troupe insider gushed anonymously, hinting at a custom routine fusing “Fancy” flair with “Santa Baby” sass. The performance, slotted post-intermission, promises a feathered frenzy: 36 legs (plus Reba’s honorary pair) lifting in lockstep to a medley mashing “Jingle Bell Rock” with her “Why Haven’t I Heard from You,” snow machines swirling as the plaza pulses below.

The lineup is a holiday hit parade, a constellation of crooners and showstoppers orbiting Reba’s red-hot helm. Kicking off at 8 p.m. sharp, the broadcast—streamed sans ads on Peacock—unfurls with Reba’s opener: a roof-raising “Run Rudolph Run,” her voice revving like a reindeer on rocket fuel, backed by The Roots’ funky flair. Joined by TODAY anchors Savannah Guthrie (the morning maven’s third Tree Lighting trot), Craig Melvin (his baritone banter a crowd-pleaser), and Al Roker (the weatherman wizard forecasting flurries with flair), Reba emcees with effortless élan, her quips (“This tree’s taller than my ex’s ego!”) drawing roars from the 10,000-strong sidewalk throng. The performers form a festive quilt: Michael Bublé’s velvet “Holly Jolly Christmas,” a crooner caress that melts the Manhattan chill; Gwen Stefani’s double-dip of “Shake the Snow Globe” (her fizzy new single from the deluxe You Make It Feel Like Christmas) and “Hot Cocoa,” her Harajuku hustle shaking the plaza like a glitter bomb; Kristin Chenoweth’s pint-sized powerhouse take on The Carpenters’ “Merry Christmas, Darling,” her Broadway belt piercing the night like a silver bell; Laufey’s jazzy “Winter Wonderland,” the Icelandic phenom’s harp-haloed hush a Nordic nightcap; Brad Paisley’s guitar-woven “Let It Snow,” his Telecaster twinkling like tinsel; Marc Anthony’s salsa-spiced “Feliz Navidad,” hips swaying as congas conga-line the crowd; Halle Bailey’s ethereal “O Holy Night,” the Little Mermaid’s soprano soaring like a seraph; Carly Pearce’s twang-tinged “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” her pipes pure Phil Spector sparkle; and New Edition’s R&B remix of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” their boy-band bounce a throwback thrill. The Rockettes’ centerpiece, sans Reba’s cameo, dazzles with their 100th-anniversary extravaganza: precision parades of toy soldiers and sugarplum spins, LED costumes glowing like a digital dream.

Behind the glamour lies a logistical labyrinth, a ballet of 500 crew members orchestrating the spectacle from dawn’s tree-raising (November 9’s flatbed fanfare, with confetti cannons and copter cams) to dusk’s dazzling denouement. The spruce, felled November 7 in a ceremony with Mayor Eric Adams wielding the ceremonial saw, traveled 150 miles south, its 12-ton trunk trimmed to perfection by arborist pros. Security swarms the site—NYPD barricades corralling the crush, drones droning overhead—while NBC’s 20-camera array captures every confetti cascade. Reba’s prep was a whirlwind: fittings at Badgley Mischka for a ruby-red gown with Rockette-ready slits, vocal warm-ups with coach Rick Perry (her Voice secret weapon), and a pre-tape segment with Guthrie teasing “Reba’s kicks could cure the common cold.” The event’s ethos? Unity amid the twinkle: a moment of silence for global peace, donations funneled to Toys for Tots via the tree’s base QR code, and Reba’s closing plea: “In a world that’s sometimes blue, let’s light it up with love—and a little leg lift.”

As the clock ticks toward 8 p.m., Midtown’s already a madhouse: ticketless fans staking sidewalk spots since sunrise, thermoses steaming with hot toddies, smartphones synced for the synchronized selfie. Social media’s a sleigh ride of speculation—”Will Reba duet with Bublé on ‘White Christmas’?” one X thread wonders, racking 50k likes—while Nashville’s neon joints toast their hometown hero with “Reba Ritas” (tequila twists on her ranch-water fave). For Reba, this Rockefeller romp is a full-circle festivity: from her 1986 Opry debut (a wide-eyed 21-year-old in a borrowed gown) to hosting the 2025 CMAs, she’s the thread stitching country’s quilt. “Hosting this? It’s like Christmas mornin’ every day,” she gushed in a pre-event People profile, her eyes misting over memories of childhood trees topped with tinsel halos. The Tree Lighting isn’t just lights—it’s legacy, a luminous link from 1931’s humble glow to 2025’s high-kick homage.

Tune in tonight at 8/7c on NBC or Peacock, and witness Reba McEntire not just host, but high-kick her way into holiday history. With the Rockettes’ centennial sparkle and a stage aglow with stars, this is the kickoff to a season where every lift feels like love, every light a little brighter. In Reba’s world—and now Rockefeller’s—the holidays aren’t observed; they’re owned, one fabulous flurry at a time. Merry kicking, y’all—the tree’s waiting to shine.