The Scene’s Festive Giveaways!
And Julie Boardman talks about why she co-founded The Museum of Broadway! Plus, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed!
Welcome to The Scene, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed. In this week’s email, we kick off the holidays with The Scene’s Festive Giveaways, 2-time Tony Award winner Julie Boardman talks about why she co-founded The Museum of Broadway. In addition, we catch you up on the week's most important theatre news and stories, including
The new Alicia Keys musical ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ will transfer to Broadway!
Discover which schools in the U.K. and U.S. have been chosen as the first to produce the school edition of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Dolly Parton's new musical is about to make its U.K. premiere!
Food Network Host Marc Summers (Double Dare) will bring his solo show Off-Broadway, and Guy Fieri is producing!
Playscripts Free Reads, and more in this week’s edition of The Scene.
Don’t forget to check out the video below to discover The Scene Premium!
The Scene’s Festive Giveaways!
'Tis the season to be jolly, and here at The Scene, we're spreading the holiday cheer with our festive giveaways! As a token of our gratitude for your continued support, we're thrilled to bring you three weeks of exciting surprises.
This week, we're kicking off the festivities with an opportunity for you to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card! All you have to do is share your thoughts and insights by filling out our 5-question survey.
How to Enter:
Click here [Survey Link] to complete our quick and easy survey.
Submit your survey by December 15th at 11:59 pm EST.
The lucky winner will be notified via email! Stay tuned for the next two weeks as we unveil the next giveaway. We're keeping the details under wraps for now, but trust us, you won't want to miss out on what's coming!
Alicia Keys’ new musical ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ to transfer to Broadway by Michael Abourizk, Broadway News | The show featuring music by Keys and inspired by her New York City upbringing will open on the Main Stem in April 2024. Read...
Best Theater of 2023 by Jesse Green, Laura Collins-Hughes, Scott Heller, Naveen Kumar, Juan A. Ramírez, and Elisabeth Vincentelli, The New York Times | Many of the plays and musicals that resonated this year deftly married elements of drama and comedy. Read...
10 Works and Performances That Helped Me Make Sense of 2023 by Salamishah Tillet, The New York Times | Global conflict and personal loss encouraged our critic to seek out art that gave her a better understanding of grief and healing. Read...
Food Network Host Marc Summers to Bring Solo Show Off-Broadway; Guy Fieri Producing by David Gordon, Theatre Mania | The new play is written by Alex Brightman. Read...
High Schools in the U.K. and U.S. Chosen to Be 1st to Produce the School Edition of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Logan Culwell-Block, Playbill | Broadway Licensing Global has selected two schools to host pilot productions of the Olivier- and Tony-winning play. Read...
Educational Theatre Foundation Launches Program Sending High School Students to Broadway Shows by Logan Culwell-Block, Playbill | The program is kicking off by sending NYC and New Jersey high schoolers to Broadway's Purlie Victorious. Read...
Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center to Close On Purchase of Hammerstein Home by Chloe Rabinowitz, Broadway World | A celebration at Highland Farm will mark the occasion. Read...
Broadway Babies, Singing Show Tunes for Seniors by Sarah Bahr, The New York Times | What happened when four young theater actors performed for an older generation? “I was expecting to have the best show ever, and that happened.” Read...
The Wonderful World of Broadway
By Julie Boardman, 2-time Tony Award winner and co-founder of The Museum of Broadway
I believe we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, and think it is imperative to learn from our past in order to build the future. The story we tell inside The Museum of Broadway is centered around this idea. We then take it a step further to pull back the curtain and show people how a Broadway show is made…that it all starts with a blank page and an idea…we follow the path shows take to Broadway and to eventually be performed in schools.
I never envisioned I would bring The Museum of Broadway to life. It is a hidden obvious — something that should have always existed. Yet somehow, myself along with my partner Diane Nicoletti and an incredible team, were the ones to build a 26,000 sf museum in the heart of Times Square dedicated to all things Broadway where people of all ages are educated, entertained, and inspired.
We start the timeline in 1732 with the first documented performance in New York City and highlight pioneers and trailblazers as we track the advancement of the art form. Exhibits dedicated to some of the shows that changed the landscape of Broadway were designed by internationally renowned artists and designers. The history comes to life around you. You’re surrounded by the opulence of The Ziegfeld Follies, walk through a cornfield in Oklahoma!, learn the iconic choreography of West Side Story, and try your skills in an anagram puzzle highlighting the work of Stephen Sondheim. You see a deconstructed chandelier where each crystal represents a performance, The Phantom of the Opera, played on Broadway. The list goes on and is quite comprehensive, with timeline walls highlighting milestone moments and hundreds of plays and musicals along the way. Each exhibit is coupled with costumes, handwritten lyric sketches, lighting plots, props — the items one might imagine belong in a museum. You make your way through time and land in the present-day with costumes worn by your favorite stars — Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Hudson, Sutton Foster, Ben Platt, André De Shields, and so many more. Some people take about 90 minutes to go through, others stay and read for hours, immersed in the history.
You then knock on a stage door and go backstage to learn how a show is made. Designed by Tony Award-winning scenic designer & prolific architect David Rockwell, the exhibit transports you into the world of backstage. You see the craft, the creative process, what someone’s day is like when they work in the theatre. You hear from over 150 people — from Broadway icons like Chita Rivera, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Stephen Schwartz to those whose jobs you may not even realize exist. You see the art of distressing, the magic of stage blood and prosthetics, how to make a set model, the casting process, what a producer does. We created what I only wish had existed when I was young. We even added a rehearsal studio to The Museum of Broadway for classes, workshops, programming, events, and even pizza parties for students before they see shows!
The last permanent exhibit is one particularly close to my heart, The Making of a Broadway Show. I grew up surrounded by the arts in Orange County, CA, performing from the age of 5. I always envisioned my life onstage…never knowing one day I would end up being a Broadway producer with over a dozen credits to my name so far. I didn’t even really know the job of a producer existed when I first came to NYC as a 10-year-old dreaming of performing, nor when I visited with my high school choir. If The Museum of Broadway had existed at either point, I would have realized there were many more opportunities to work on Broadway besides acting.
They say if you build it, they’ll come. I hope you’ll consider visiting The Museum of Broadway on your next trip to New York City!
—-
Visit the Museum of Broadway to plan your visit.
Dolly Parton Musical to have UK Premiere at Leeds Playhouse by Gemma Nettle, The Stage | Leeds Playhouse will be staging the premieres of Here You Come Again featuring the music of Dolly Parton and Felix Barrett’s Paranormal Activity: A New Haunting Live On Stage as part of its new season. Read...
Alan Turing: A Musical Biography will play London's Riverside Studios by Meg Masseron, Playbill | The musical highlighting the history-making computer scientist features music by Joel Goodman and Jan Osborne. Read...
See Who's Starring in London's Cruel Intentions: The ‘90s Musical by Margaret Hall, Playbill - The jukebox musical is filled with ‘90s pop classics from Britney Spears, Boyz II Men, Christina Aguilera, TLC, Natalie Imbruglia, The Verve, *NSYNC, R.E.M and more. Read...
Mystic Pizza Musical Will Get New Staging at California's La Mirada Theatre by Logan Culwell-Block, Playbill | Casey Hushion is back at the helm for the musical's West Coast premiere. Read...
TheatreWorks’ Emergency Fundraising Campaign Succeeds — by this Much by Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle | “It felt euphoric,” Executive Director Debbie Chinn said of taking the final tallies. Read...
Raúl Esparza to Lead New Musical Galileo in Berkeley by David Gordon, Theatre Mania | Michael Mayer will direct the new show about the historical astronomer. Read...
Kate Hamill’s The Light and The Dark will make its World Premiere in 2024 by Andrew Gans, Playbill | Jade King Carroll will direct for the Chautauqua Theater Company in New York. Read...
Playscripts Free Reads
Read entire plays for free! Free Reads titles are perfect for your theatre, school, and competition performances. Click on the Play’s title or image to be taken to the Play’s page; once you are there, click the "READ NOW" button and enjoy!
Free Read of the Week:
I'm Not Ebenezer Scrooge! by Tim Kochenderfer
THE STORY: The famous tale of Ebenezer Scrooge haunts an unsuspecting, slightly dimwitted, modern-day penny pincher in this hilarious spoof of the quintessential Christmas classic. After getting dumped on Christmas Eve, Carter's holiday goes from bad to worse when the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future mistake him for Scrooge. After being dragged kicking and screaming through the legendary miser's life, Carter realizes he may share a similar fate.
Comedy | 45 - 55 minutes | 9 W, 7 M, 7 Any (12-23 actors possible: 3-18 W, 5-20 M) | Set: None.