In November 2022, Julie Boardman and her longtime friend Diane Nicoletti opened something where there was nothing: a museum dedicated to Broadway. Three floors of exhibits — with donations from shows currently running and those long gone — tell the story of how Broadway influenced and paved the way for the ground-breaking shows reflected their times.
It is part museum, part celebration, and all Broadway.
The Broadway Banner sat down with Boardman, before taking in the museum. This interview has been condensed for space and clarity.
How do you think museums and theater work together to inspire future generations?
Julie Boardman: “I think we can learn a lot from our past, as to maybe not what to do again or maybe something good blossoms from what we learned in the past. When you hear the history and where we came from and how things evolved it gives a really good perspective. Hopefully, from there we can build a more inclusive, diverse future.”
What is something you learned along this journey: being an actress and then a producer and now co-founder (with Diane Nicolletti) of The Museum of Broadway?
JB: ”Being really open as things come about. I’m trying to have more of a “yes, and” mentality than “no, but.” On Broadway, it’s a very, very small community of people who work on it and everyone knows someone knows someone and so I think another really important thing is, if you say you’re gonna do something to make sure you follow through with it to the best of your ability, to not let people down. You’re building your own personal reputation and brand at the same time. One of the hardest things I ever learned to say is no. You want to be part of everything, but it’s not humanly possible.”
How do you manage the pressure of handling so many projects?
“What helps me to get me personally through building this place and many other things in my life is going step by step. It’s good to have a whole perspective and look at everything so that you know everything is going in the right direction, but sometimes it can feel very daunting. So just looking step by step – we’re going to do all these steps – then it makes it all more attainable.”
Tell me about your work with the costume industry coalition.
JB: “During COVID when everything shut down, all the costume makers were just trying to find a way to survive. I was part of a group that was helping out to find different ideas. Once the world kind of reopened a bi, there was a pop-up that the costume industry coalition put together – on 42nd Street in a space that was just empty – of a bunch of costumes and they used it as a fundraiser and a way to help all the individuals to be able to kind of make it through that time.”
What skills do you think are essential for success today?
JB: “Having a really great team of people that you trust, learning how to delegate.They check in along the way, but you want to empower other people to help, and giving them the tools and the resources to be able to do that, I think that’s a very important perspective, cause back to your question, people can only do so much to hope to build a good team who believe and have the same passion for it.”
What does Broadway mean to you personally?
JB: “It is the art form. It’s a medium that you can find joy in. It creates conversation. It pushes people to have dialogue. I think theater, Broadway, creates a lot or has the ability to create a lot of empathy. I think it’s very important right now and so hopefully you see a show and then you walk out and then you see things through a slightly different lens. You put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and so that’s very interesting.”
Contributing: Khloe JeanBart, Athena Caasi, and Crystal Diaz
Dasiel DeJesus is a rising senior at at United Charter High School for the Humanities in the Bronx.
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