Backstage at the New Museum of Broadway

Nicoletti and Boardman, both 40, met as undergraduates at the University of Southern California and have worked on a series of projects together over the last decade. But they wanted to dig deeper. In November, after five years in the works, they opened the Museum of Broadway in a former Irish pub next to the iconic Lyceum Theatre, the district’s oldest continuously operating theater. 

While the museum is for-profit, a portion of every ticket sold (with prices starting from US$39) is donated to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Visitors take a self-guided tour through three floors of Broadway history; many of the original costumes, props, posters, notes, and set pieces are on display from shows ranging from Rent to West Side Story to Cats. There’s even a scale reproduction of the Gershwin Theatre, showing miniature models of the cast and crew from Wicked as they warm up, get dressed, and perform.

“We wanted it to have an experiential vibe to it,” Nicoletti says. “We wanted to immerse guests into the world of Broadway and into the show.” 

Penta met co-founders and producers Boardman and Nicoletti at the Museum of Broadway to find out more.

The Museum of Broadway is a love story to Broadway, stuffed with history and original artifacts. How did you fund such an ambitious project? 

Boardman: At the beginning it was self-funded. The next step was to get funding in the Broadway community. We had some artists on board [and] meetings with key players in the industry: the licensing companies, the theater owners. We [wanted] to make sure that people were open to it—because it’s a very small community, and if you’re not embraced it’s a little harder to get things off the ground. 

The exhibition begins with a walk up a back-stage staircase to the third floor, adorned with photos and text explaining how performers (and, in particular, dancers) use the stairs to warm up. It’s a very intimate beginning… 

Boardman: It was a bit of a creative solve to get people to the third floor to start the experience—a lot of people don’t necessarily know or haven’t been backstage.

Each room has a concept. Tell us about the Showboat room, which has an art installation from paper artist Rachel Marks, featuring the scattered pages of a book… 

Nicoletti: For Showboat we knew that we wanted some kind of paper art to represent it as one of the first musicals [derived] from a [novel] with a serious topic, so we wanted to find the pages of the book and create an art installation from it. 

Most of the exhibitions are celebratory. But a more somber room is dedicated to the performers and Broadway workers who lost their lives during the AIDS epidemic. How did you approach such a sensitive subject? 

Nicoletti: It’s a quiet room. … We worked with [American artist] Debbie Millman to create the wallpaper of names [of those who lost their lives]. She did it so beautifully and so respectfully. And then we worked with HotXTea for the red ribbon installation, representing AIDS awareness. 

Why is it an important story to tell? 

Boardman: As we were crafting the timeline, we show that we stand on the shoulders of those who come before us. So it was important [to include] all the people we lost along the way. Had the AIDS epidemic not happened, the future would have looked very different. It was really important to us to pause, stop, reflect, and remember everyone who we had lost. 

The museum opened last November. Who is visiting? 

Nicoletti: We knew tourists were going to be a big focus, because New York and Broadway are almost synonymous to each other—so when you do come to New York, you probably have a Broadway element to your visit. So [the museum] becomes an add-on to maybe a show or two that you’ve seen. 

Boardman: We’re also seeing all ages. Everybody has a different entry point of when Broadway came into their consciousness. Maybe you started coming in high school or a teacher took you when you were little. It’s interesting to see inter-generational groups come to the museum, the grandparents saying: Oh yeah, I first saw a show in 1965. It’s all about memory and the love of theater. 

You focus more on musicals—why?

Nicoletti: As we were developing it, we’d get that question: Why aren’t you incorporating plays? The American musicals are such a big part of American history, whereas plays date back to the Greek or Romans. 

Boardman: Plays are there. But it is an experiential museum, so when you walk in you hear the music from the shows. You can’t accomplish that with a play. 

What is your favorite room? 

Nicoletti: I always say The Phantom of the Opera because it was the first show that I saw, so there’s this nostalgic element to that particular room. 

Boardman: Something that excites me is that last major exhibit: the making of a Broadway show. People are being exposed to other jobs—you could be a press agent or report on Broadway. There are so many different ways to be part of it. By going into that exhibit, people are going to inevitably be inspired and maybe that helps change their path, so I’m excited to see what the future holds in terms of the stories that are told. 

Are you doing talks, too?

Nicoletti: In February, we did a couple of events around Black History Month, we’ve done talks around Women’s History Month, we invite shows to come and do talks. It allows us to dive deeper into certain topics. For student groups who come in, we have workshops. We even have an educational guide for teachers created by Barrie Gelles, who is getting her doctoral degree in theater. 

You worked on the museum during the pandemic, when Broadway itself suffered the longest shut down in its history. That must have been emotional… 

Boardman: It shut down and then we could not come back to work for such a long time. There’s nothing like sitting inside a theater and the magic and the energy and what happens on the stage. This is a place where people can come together to celebrate Broadway, to remember. 

What has been the largest challenge? 

Boardman: At one point it was the real estate, the construction, the supply chain. We had to be very diligent to get this built. Now it is getting people to come. We really hope people like it—and it turns out they do. It’s very moving to see people go through. When people visit after they have seen a show I think they will see [Broadway] in a bit of a different light. We’re hoping to deepen the experience. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.