Inside the Museum of Broadway With Co-founder Julie Boardman

In the heart of Times Square, steps away from where theater history is made nightly, stands a vibrant celebration of Broadway’s past, present, and future. The Museum of Broadway—New York’s first-ever permanent museum dedicated to the art and impact of Broadway—opened its doors in 2022, offering an immersive journey through the evolution of the Great White Way.

At the helm of this project is Julie Boardman, a producer and lifelong theater enthusiast, who co-founded the museum with marketing expert Diane Nicoletti.

Here, Boardman reflects on how a childhood love of theater and a bold vision for storytelling led to the creation of a cultural destination like no other.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

How did you come up with the idea for a Museum of Broadway?
I grew up a huge fan of Broadway and performed from the age of five. I ended up getting into the producing side of Broadway in my late 20s, but prior to that, I had started an event staffing agency working with brands doing promotional marketing and fan activations basically. I would hire my friends who are Broadway performers, and it would be some freelance work while they were auditioning.

One of my clients was my friend from college, Diane Nicoletti, who had started an experiential agency, primarily working with film and TV clients. She would create these fan activations, and then she would hire me to come help on-site to manage and staff.  Then we started exploring and whiteboarding.

We took some key meetings with [architect] David Rockwell and he came on board. He designed the “Making of a Broadway Show” exhibit. Everyone thinks you have to be an actor, but there are so many jobs behind the scenes. He tackled that exhibit, and then we found different designers to do each of the other exhibits. One thing led to the next, and after five years, we opened our doors.

What could a visitor expect to see at the Museum of Broadway?  
Everyone has a different experience of what Broadway means to them, and part of our hope was to be able to have people find whatever that might be. We programmed the content essentially to about three-to-four different groups. You have the mega fans who know every single thing. Then you have the people who are the casual fans who see maybe a couple shows a year. Obviously, the tourist is a big, big part of Broadway, so we made sure that we have an app that translates into many foreign languages for accessibility.

At first you go through this backstage experience that tells fun facts. You start in present day, which is all the shows that are currently running on Broadway. A lot of people when they come to town might have bought tickets for one show, but they haven’t decided what else that they want to see in that room. You can read a bit about each show and then scan a QR code and buy a ticket right then and there.  The museum is meant to help compliment someone’s experience when they come to New York.

Then you go through a door that says, “let’s start at the very beginning.” You start in 1732, and you go all the way through to present day. There are timeline walls that have groundbreaking moments, plays, musicals, and then you’ll get to an exhibit. And so how did Times Square and Broadway become what they are today? We wanted to make sure we highlighted that.

If you’re a younger child, I don’t know if you can read the words, but you see when you walk into Oklahoma!, you’re walking through cornfields and there’s a lot of visual storytelling, which is actually great for non-English speaking audiences too. Also, I see a lot of multi-generational families.

Are there different exhibits throughout the year and how do you decide what they should be? 
We do probably about four special exhibits a year, but the one we have up right now we’re going to keep extending it because it’s an important one. It’s called Crafting Excellence, Black Storytellers of Broadway.

We change things out, so it’s fun to come back. Depending on the day, you might experience things in a different way or see something else that intrigues you. Something might be going on in the world that causes you to view something a little different. I think there’s a lot of value in coming multiple times.