Museum at the Crossroads of the World

Focused mainly on the musical and comedy theatre and the sheer physical aura of the Times Square district, The Broadway Museum will be a showplace of the rich history of Broadway from its Minstrel and Vaudeville beginnings, through the current era of large commercial musicals, and looking forward to visions of the future of Times Square and the musical theatre that will remain its key attraction. The museum will showcase historical artifacts, many available through the collection of the Museum of the City of New York, education in association with the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts, and the essential live entertainment that defines this unique institution. In addition to viewing live entertainment, the audience will be prompted to participate in song, dance and other games that will assist in the learning experience. The museum will be capped by a café that will feature Broadway Karaoke and other live events.

The overall layout of the museum will be in four sections – this could be most easily and dramatically achieved via separate floors but space could be divided for practical reasons. The foundation of each section, at the entrance or in the center, will be a replication of Times Square as it looked in the era. The audience will walk among artifacts of the era; posters, nickelodeons, advertising spectaculars, costumes, instruments, production stills. Each section will have a stage area for live performances. Photography, video and interactive features will emphasize some of the historical events that were celebrated collectively in The Square during the era.

SECTION OR FLOOR ONE

The first section will be the early years of Broadway Theatre and Times Square, predominantly the era between the turn of the century and the end of the Roaring Twenties. Times Square becomes the heart of New York as it transforms into the largest and most progressive city in the world. It becomes the nexus of theater and film consumption in the United States, the sun from which entertainers and the businesses supporting them will shine across the nation. Featured artists will be George M. Cohen, The Ziegfeld Follies, Fanny Brice, The Marx Brothers, Bert Williams, Damon Runyon, Al Jolson and WC Fields. The early careers of the Gershwin Brothers, Jerome Kern, Rogers and Hart, Oscar Hammerstein and Irving Berlin will be explored. The importance of the development of Jazz within the melting pot of Broadway will be showcased. Highlighted musicals; selected Ziegfeld reviews, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Show Boat, Connecticut Yankee, Strike Up the Band, She Done Him Wrong. The Times Square centerpiece will feature the first electrical spectaculars and street car miniatures. Historical events celebrated in Times Square will feature the first New Year’s Eve ball drop, the end of World War I, Yankees World Series victories and the 1929 stock market crash.

SECTION OR FLOOR TWO

This section will cover the era between the dawn of the Depression to the development of the mature score-driven musical. It ends somewhere between the last collaborations of Rogers and Hammerstein and the grittiness of musicals like West Side Story. From a time standpoint, there is no distinct beginning and end. The light comedy reviews of the 30s are more linked to Section 1 while the milestone musicals of the 60s are showcased here even though they postdate West Side Story. The growth in the work of the Gershwin Brothers, Rogers and Hart, Irving Berlin and others will be reflected against their work of the earlier era. The teaming of Rogers and Hammerstein will be physically represented by the intersecting lines coming up the stairs or through the walls from their earlier work. Other featured artists will be Cole Porter, Orson Welles, Ethel Merman, Ethel Waters, Mary Martin, Julie Andrews, Barbara Streisand, Lucille Ball, Zero Mostel, and Leonard Bernstein. The early careers of Jerome Robbins, Harold Prince and Stephen Sondeim will be emphasized. Intersecting lines will also showcase the mentoring relationship between Sondeim and Hammerstein. Featured musicals will be Pal Joey, Strike Up the Band, Anything Goes, Porgy and Bess, Oklahoma, Carousel, Annie Get Your Gun, Gypsy, My Fair Lady, Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, all culminating conceptually with West Side Story. The Times Square centerpiece will feature some of the great spectaculars of the era, including the Camel smoking sign and the Bond waterfalls, pictured above. Live events featured in photography and other artifacts will be the end of WWII, Sinatra at the Paramount, the Dodgers World Series victory, and the death of President Kennedy.

SECTION THREE

This section will reflect the most decadent and cynical era, starting somewhere around the mid-sixties through the late eighties. It will reflect the mature work of Sondeim, Prince and Robbins and the emergence of Bob Fosse, Kanter and Ebb, and the introduction of Rock to the musical theater. The dominance of the Team of Tim Rice and Andrew Loyd Webber and their place as the figurative heirs of Rogers and Hammerstein will be emphasized. It will also highlight the contrast between the growing seediness of the district, including the emergence of Studio 54 in a Broadway theatre, and such family-pleasing musicals as Annie, Cats and Oliver. Other featured musicals will include Cabaret, The Pajama Game, A Chorus Line, Damn Yankees, Sweet Charity, Sunday in the Park with George, Grease, Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, Pippin, Chicago, Nine, Evita, and Noises Off. Featured artists will include Ben Vereen, Gwen Verdon, Joel Grey, Angela Landsbury, Tommy Tune, Michael Crawford, Patty Lupone, and Jerry Orbach. The Times Square centerpiece, while still bright, will include the adult and gaming establishments dominating the strip at the time. Historical events collectively shared in the Square will include the lunar walk, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the end of the Vietnam War, the Mets World Series victory in 1969, The Clash performances and media circus at Bond in 1981, and the Yankees’ return to glory in 1977.

SECTION FOUR

This section will reflect the modern era of Broadway as it serves the multiple roles of global communications center, vital business district and the city’s most important tourist attraction. We explore its role as the greatest convergence of live events, broadcasting and commerce on earth. With a major musical costing millions to stage, it is only natural that Finance would join entertainment on the Great White Way. From a historical perspective, the dominance of Webber and Rice will continue into this era as we also experience the rise of Disney and other corporations serving roles in the district’s comeback.

But what will be featured most are the current collection of shows, artists, music and the physical power of the current Times Square, emphasizing the vivid connection to the past. We will demonstrate how the current era is built upon the layers of the past and is continuing to re-invent itself. The ongoing, predominantly symbiotic relationship between Broadway and Hollywood will be studied in its current stage. Just as Broadway inspired film at the dawn of talkies, films now inspire a growing amount of musicals, for better and worse. It will be clear as to why Bob Fosse's work endures so greatly, having risen from a Vaudeville child performer to success in several entertainment mediums. We will show how certain musicals that showcase particular artists (Moving Out, Jersey Boys) are more like the revues of earlier eras than the mature musicals of the 40-60s. We'll see Studio 54 transform back into a legitimate theatre under the direction of the Roundabout Theatre Company and the Bond location transform into a cavernous restaurant. We'll see The New York Times move from its audacious but impratical home at 1 Times Square, to an elegant cathedral-inspired skyscraper on 43rd Street, and ultimately to an imposing tower on 8th Avenue and 41st Street. The audience will participate in games across web-based and location-based communities that are broadcasted on screens in Times Square (for a primitive glimpse of this emerging technology, see Jimbli link at right).

The centerpiece will be a replica of the current Square, resplendent with the commerce of entertainment and finance side by side (ironically Times Square is ground zero for the greatest modern flop in recent financial history; Lehman Brothers and the financial collapse of 2008). A live web cam from the Square will emphasize the connection from the past to the present. We will also try to visualize the future of the Square and the ongoing evolution of the musical theater. By reflecting on the layers of history, the great talent, and the sensory entertainments we have just experienced, the ongoing transformation of Broadway and Times Square is easier to conceptualize.

CAFÉ and STORE
A café adjacent to the final section will feature Broadway Karaoke. The store will feature music, books, software and an extension of the STKS ticket booth. Museum patrons could be offered priority seating and special pricing to the night's offerings.