The Museum of Broadway opens this week right where it oughta be, at 145 West 45th street next door to that Beaux Arts beauty – the Lyceum Theater in the middle of Times Square.
Founded by two savvy and brilliant Broadway producers, Julie Boardman and Diane Nicoletti, funded and curated by an army of others, it has four floors of history, nostalgia and inspiration for theater nerds and newbies as well.
I had the opportunity to visit the museum just before it opened this weekend, and you do in fact enter through a gift shop which had me reaching for my wallet before I had even had a walk around. There is an elevator of course, but on the walk up the stairs to where the self-guided tour begins, I knew immediately that I was in good hands. Each landing had gorgeous pictures and stories about how small the backstage of theaters is. The stories detailed how actors warm up by singing and stretching or just hanging out on back stairs just like the ones guests walk up. From the jump, you feel like you are part of the show.
The set-up recalls Madame Tussaud’s in that you walk through different room-sized exhibits which creates an immersive experience that will have anyone geeking out. Resident theater historian Ben West created extremely detailed timeline walls for each era of Broadway starting with its inception to present day – including blank walls for years in the future. Isn’t that just the kind of spine-tingly thing we love theater people for?
Landmark, era-defining shows are highlighted and explained in depth for their relevance, (Showboat, West Side Story and yes Phantom, ugh,) and there you get a close look at costumes, props and original scores and scripts with the authors’ notes. And they didn’t forget my favorite Ain’t Misbehavin! What an incredible experience to see Marvin Hamlisch’s rewrites of A Chorus Line scribbled hastily in the margin or to contemplate why Eugene O’Neill changed one or two words of the stage direction of Long Days Journey Into Night.
Speaking of spine tingling – brace yourself for one dark room with names written in gray that represent the plague of AIDS and the generation of theater artists we lost and the voices that were never heard.
They save the best for last in my opinion with an extensive exhibit about all the jobs behind the scenes that make a show possible. Set up like the backstage of a theater, there are sound and light boards, a stage manager’s show bible, a costume show and prop table as well as tons of information about all the theater careers that make up the world of Broadway. I have worked in numerous theaters over the course of my life and I was still oohing and ahhing.
The Museum of Broadway does a brilliant job of bringing these famous Broadway productions right down to earth – so close you can see the sewn on buttons. They say it takes 60 to 90 minutes but after two hours, we suddenly realized we had lost track of time. Part of that is also because it is also the most Instagrammable place in Manhattan so go ahead and strike a pose! No one should be surprised that theater professionals created such an entertaining, diverting place that will leave guests wanting more.
I predict that as time goes by the museum will only get more interesting as no doubt it will become a thing of prestige for certain props and costumes to be enshrined in this Smithsonian of the Stage, because in some way – theater is about creating something that outlasts even us. And now it is finally all in one place.
Bravo.
