NEW YORK, NY.- The Museum of Broadway announced the first special exhibit that will be featured in the Museum, The American Theatre as seen by Hirschfeld, curated by David Leopold, Creative Director of The Al Hirschfeld Foundation. This new exhibition, created exclusively for the Museum of Broadway, takes visitors through nine decades of Hirschfeld’s iconic images of theater in this country through twenty-five drawings and prints from 1928 to 2002. Visitors will be brought face to face with the original productions of Fiddler on the Roof, The Phantom of the Opera, The King and I, Sunday in the Park with George, Funny Girl, Ragtime, Beauty and the Beast, and Hairspray, among others.
Hirschfeld created more posters for shows than any other artist, which are featured on two dedicated walls in the exhibition, alongside a number of iconic album covers and programs. Visitors will also be able to sit in a replica of Hirschfeld’s barber chair, where he drew all the finished drawings in his career, as well as a selection of sketchbooks that he used to record his initial impressions of shows in out-of-town tryouts and previews.
Portraits of Meryl Streep, Julie Andrews, Stephen Sondheim, Liza Minnelli and John Leguizamo, many of them signed by their subjects, will also be on display, and visitors will have the chance to create a Hirschfeld portrait of themselves with a new app created exclusively for this exhibition. There will also be Hirschfeld coloring pages available to make the exhibition fun for visitors of all ages.
The Museum of Broadway is founded by entrepreneur and two-time Tony Award-winning producer, Julie Boardman, and founder of award-winning experiential agency Rubik Marketing, Diane Nicoletti. Currently under construction, the Museum is slated to open November 15, 2022 at 145 West 45th Street.
The Museum of Broadway is an immersive and interactive theatrical experience devoted to musicals, plays, and the people who make them. Featuring the work of dozens of designers, artists, and theatre historians, this one-of-a-kind Museum takes visitors on a journey along the timeline of Broadway, from its birth to present day, where the past, present, and future of Broadway come together like never before!
When visitors first arrive at the Museum they will begin their experience by entering The Map Room, which will take them on a journey from the first play performed in New York in 1732 through to present day. Narrator Julie James tells the story of how the first theaters in New York City were primarily located in today’s Financial District, and after the Civil War they migrated north along Broadway before finally settling in today’s Times Square. This migration comes to life through projection mapping onto a deconstructed cityscape, designed by Bravo Media, and with curation by Jennifer Tepper. During this experience guests will also hear a new arrangement by Macy Schmidt and Daniel Mertzlufft of “Give My Regards To Broadway,” performed by The Broadway Sinfonietta, arranged specifically to reflect the time period in Broadway’s history that they are currently viewing.
Guests will then travel through a visual history of Broadway, highlighting groundbreaking moments in a series of exhibits that showcase – and show off – dazzling costumes, props, renderings, rare photos, videos, and more. Along the way, guests will learn more about the pivotal shows that transformed the landscape of Broadway - the moments that pushed creative boundaries, challenged social norms, and paved the way for those who would follow. Some of the exhibits and immersive experiences will feature Cabaret, HAIR, The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera, The Producers, Show Boat, The Ziegfeld Follies, Oklahoma!, The Wiz, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and Rent, among many more yet to be announced. Overall, the Museum will highlight more than 500 individual productions from the 1700s through the present.
The Museum will also celebrate the behind-the-scenes of this dazzling American art form with “The Making of a Broadway Show” exhibit, which will honor the community of brilliantly talented professionals – both onstage and off – who bring Broadway plays and musicals to life every night.
Guests will also be able to purchase souvenirs from their time at the Museum at the retail shop which will sell Museum of Broadway branded merchandise, merchandise from artists that are included in the Museum, Scenery Bags, merchandise from running shows, as well as a special collection of merchandise featuring the work of Al Hirschfeld. Creative Goods will operate the store and produce the Museum of Broadway Merchandise.
The Museum of Broadway will feature work from Emmy Award-winning illustrator I. Javier Ameijeiras (Rent Live!), contemporary artist Ulli Böhmelmann, The Broadway Sinfonietta, Tony Award-winning scenic designer Bunny Christie (Company, Curious Incident…), award-winning multimedia artist Paul Clay (Rent), painter Ann Marie Coolick, Tony Award nominated dancer Robert Fairchild (An American in Paris, former NYCB principal), calligrapher Ryoko Goldston, muralist Harley and J, installation artist HotxTea, visual artist Neka King, Drama Desk Award winning scenic designer David Korins (Hamilton, Beetlejuice), magician and New York Times crossword constructor David Kwong, neon artist Jianhe Li, three time Tony Award-nominated scenic designer Anna Louizos (In The Heights, Avenue Q), two-time Tony Award-winning scenic designer Derek McLane (Moulin Rouge, MJ), contemporary artist Rachel Marks, music arranger Daniel Mertzlufft (Ratatouille, The Tik Tok Musical), visual artist and author Debbie Millman (“Why Design Matters”), director/choreographer Julio Monge (West Side Story), interactive street artist Kelsey Montague (Taylor Swift), Peter Nigrini (MJ, Beetlejuice), creative director Ryan Ratelle, designer Sam Ratelle, Tony Award-winning scenic designer and architect David Rockwell (Into The Woods, She Loves Me), music arranger Macy Schmidt (Kimberly Akimbo), dancer Tanairi Vazquez (West Side Story, Hamilton), visual artist Liz West, and illustrator Ty Wilson.
