Museum of Television and Radio to Expand Theater Holdings

The Museum of Television and Radio has announced an initiative to build The Theater Collection, which will expand the museum’s exisitng theater holdings by as many as 500 hours. It has also announced the establishment of the Laura Pels Foundation Arthur Miller Collections, which will focus solely on the work of that acclaimed playwright. Both collections will be permanently accessible at the museum’s sites in New York (25 West 52nd Street in Manhattan) and Los Angeles (465 North Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills).

The objectives of The Theater Collection include completing existing series in the museum’s collection, such as ABC Theater and Hallmark Hall of Fame; adding episodes of Producers’ Showcase, The Best of Broadway, Hollywood Television Theatre, The Play of the Week, Broadway Television Theatre, and Pulitzer Prize Playhouse; cataloging recent acquisitings of programming from the late producer Alex Cohen; and fully cataloging and archiving over 100 hours of radio plays that are already in the museum’s collection.

In conjection with this, the museum offer a series titled “Tony Awards Highlights: The Alexander H. Cohen Years” from May 14 through June 10, featuring some of the most acclaimed musical performances in Broadway history. The museum will screen two 90-minute compilations of these Tony moments, Tuesdays through Sundays at 2:30pm and Thursdays at 4:30pm. Here is the schedule:

May 14 to May 27: 1967-1976 — I Do! I Do!, The Happy Time, Hello, Dolly!, How Now, Dow Jones, Promises, Promises, Purlie, Jesus Christ Superstar, legendary Broadway star Ethel Merman, Pippin, Over Here!, Chicago, and A Chorus Line.

May 28 to June 10: 1977-1986 — I Love My Wife, Dancin’, On the Twentieth Century, Eubie!, Ballroom, Barnum, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, Sugar Babies, Annie, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Evita, Dreamgirls, Nine, My One and Only, Baby, La Cage aux Folles, Big River, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Admission to the screenings is included with the Musem’s suggested contribution: $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students, and $5 for children under 14. (Admission is free for museum members). For more information, call 212-621-6800 in New York or 310-786-1000 in Los Angeles, or visit www.mtr.org.