Spend the day at the Museum of Broadway

Dance in front of the mirrors from “A Chorus Line.” Play on the flower-cover swing from “Hair.” Sit at a drugstore lunch counter very much like the one in “West Side Story.” If you always fantasized about being onstage, the Museum of Broadway might be as close as you’ll ever get.

Opened in 2022, the museum on West 45th Street traces the history of Broadway theater from its earliest days downtown. “It’s a celebration of the art form that so many people love,” said Julie Boardman, a Tony-winning producer who is one of the museum’s founders. “It was really wild that we didn’t have a place that honored all of the people who made Broadway shows.”

Visitors start their tour with a brief video detailing the city’s theatrical roots, from the first performance in 1732 in a building in Chinatown through its gradual move uptown to the Times Square area. Equipped with that historical background, visitors take a chronological journey through three floors of memorabilia highlighting Broadway shows through the decades, starting with an opulent room devoted to the Ziegfeld Follies. Turn the corner and you’re in a room with cornstalks as high as, well, an elephant’s eye, where the focus is on “Oklahoma!,” the 1943 musical that was the first show for a duo that became legend, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.

Continuing through the years, posters highlight both hits and flops, while bigger areas are devoted to megahits like “Phantom of the Opera,” “Rent” and “Wicked.” Café chairs in the “Cabaret” space encourage visitors to strike a pose worthy of a KitKat girl. A re-creation of the set for the 2021 revival of “Company” invites guests to take pictures with that all-important birthday cake.

Costumes are sprinkled throughout — a red leotard and dance skirt from “A Chorus Line,” a feathered headpiece from “Hello, Dolly!,” the blood-stained white dress worn by Rachel Zegler in “Romeo and Juliet.” Props and accessories share a wall, including a stack of newspapers from “Newsies,” Harold Hill’s suitcase from “The Music Man” and Patti LuPone’s martini glass from “Company.” On the ground floor, visitors learn about all the people it takes to put on a show, from stage managers and choreographers to scenic and costume designers. There’s even a shoutout to Broadway publicists.

One solemn room honors the Broadway artists lost to AIDS. And getting a lot of attention these days is a special exhibit on Broadway puppetry. Milky White, the beloved cow from “Into the Woods,” sits in the middle of one room; nearby is Trekkie Monster from “Avenue Q.” On the first floor, Olaf from “Frozen” holds court in one corner, while the tiger from “Life of Pi” is ready to leap out of a boat in another. Seeing the puppets up close “really sparks the imagination,” said Boardman. And that’s her goal for the museum, as well. Visitors will look at their next Broadway show “a little differently,” she said. “They can appreciate the magic they see on stage.”

Open Monday-Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Thursday-Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; tickets, timed entry $39-$43, flexible entry $49, students $31, seniors (65 and over) $34, children 4 and under free; 212-239-6200,
themuseumofbroadway.com