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[0:00] Alan Seales: Welcome back to the Theatre Podcast. I'm your host, Alan Seales, and these are intimate personal conversations with the industry's biggest names. And today we have two guests who live up to that. They are the industry's biggest names, as in they are the first in their kind to create the first museum dedicated exclusively to Broadway, appropriately named the Museum of Broadway. They have such a wonderful friendship and longstanding background together, working together in various immersive events and audience experiences. That's the best way to call it. It's like when you walk into a place like, I use the metaphor of Disney World of when you're waiting in line, Disney does such a good job of creating the atmosphere, putting you in the world of the ride you're about to experience.

And that's what the two of them together in their various roles outside of Museum of Broadway, they do. And to hear their background, the story, how they put it all together, it's just, it's fascinating. It's something a little bit different, but now taking that love, that expertise and applying it to the Broadway space, they've created not only a museum, which Broadway desperately needs to document everything and educate, but also the way they present it. It's moving from room to room. You're moving from era to era, from set to set, from, I just, I can't explain it. It's just phenomenal. And I cannot wait to share this with you. You've got to go to the museum next time you're in New York. It's right there in the heart of Times Square.

So like I always say, find me online, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, leave a rating, leave a review, tell a friend. That's how this podcast will grow and how we can continue to make such amazing episodes like this. And now everybody, please enjoy this episode with Julie Boardman and Diane Nicoletti.

[2:02] Alan Seales: We have another two guest episode today. Long-time friends whose personal stories I cannot wait to dive into. First to be introduced here on the podcast is Julie Boardman, a two-time Tony Award winning producer who's currently a co-pro on the Broadway revival of Funny Girl. Oh man, I'm sure you're enjoying yourself with that one right now. Additional Broadway credits include An American in Paris, Carousel, the recent revival of Company, Dames at Sea, Head Over Heels, one of my personally favorite shows of all time. I love it. Huey, Indecent, and The Inheritance, in addition to an amazing swath of tours and West End productions. And then our other guest is Diane Nicoletti, a creative director, producer, and entrepreneur who has produced some of the biggest events in fan experiences for two decades now, including the Game of Thrones fan experience, Gretzky's Retirement Gala, and brand activations at the Super Bowl, Comic-Con, CES, South by Southwest, and she's the founder of the award winning experiential marketing agency, Rubic Marketing, and has had the privilege of working on amazing properties such as Game of Thrones, Deadpool, Frozen, Hotel Transylvania, Dumbo, Shark Tank, American Horse Stories, Ghostbusters, God, the list goes on forever, and this whole experiential event thing is fascinating.

Can't wait to talk about it. Together, they finally, after a little bit of a delay, you know, due to this little pandemic thing, co-founded and opened the Museum of Broadway, the first of its kind, right in the heart of Times Square. Julie and Diane, after all that bio reading, welcome to the theater podcast.

[3:41] Julie Boardman: Thank you so much for having us. And I even have one more credit to add, too. Can you believe it?

[3:46] Alan Seales: What's that?

[3:47] Julie Boardman: A Doll's House.

[3:48] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. So, A Doll's House is—

[3:52] Julie Boardman: The list got longer.

[3:54] Alan Seales: I think a great place to start is just explaining the connection that the two of you have together, because it seems to me that you're sort of an unlikely pair, maybe? I guess, tell the story of how you met and why you started working together, and what was your first project?

[4:11] Diane Nicoletti: Yeah, well, so we went to college together at the University of Southern California.

[4:16] Alan Seales: So you were long-time friends.

[4:19] Diane Nicoletti: Yeah, and we were in the same sorority. That's really how we met.

[4:24] Julie Boardman: I was president in the sorority.

[4:27] Diane Nicoletti: Yeah, so we've been long-time friends, and we didn't start working together until probably, I don't know, 10 years ago, maybe now at this point. At one point in that long list of things that you said I did, I also have been running an event staffing agency. And so, Diane would hire my company to basically bring brand ambassadors and help bring it to life, the events that she created. So we worked together on tons of events over the years.

[5:01] Julie Boardman: I'm a relative newbie to the world of interactive events. And so, I think that's actually—

[5:08] Alan Seales: So I want to back up and sort of get a general, I don't know, explanation or whatever. So when we're talking about experiential events, what exactly does that mean? So, Diane, you're saying you've worked on fan experiences. What the hell is a fan experience?

[5:31] Diane Nicoletti: Well, when you think of how films and TV shows and brands promote, obviously, there's the traditional advertising where it's a commercial spot, or you'll see a print ad or things like that. And I don't know, probably about 15, 20 years ago, I would say, a lot of these brands started creating these experiential promotions where you start actually getting into the world of the brand. So people wanted to touch and feel and experience that, especially when it was something related to a show that they really liked or a film that they really wanted to embrace. And so, that's kind of the world of experiential. And I got into that, gosh, yeah, like 15, 20 years ago at this point, and as did Julie. And so, each of the different types of experiences was very different, but like a Game of Thrones experience, people wanted to see the costumes, they wanted to see the props, but then we recreated the world of Westeros.

So you could actually be in these different worlds within the show, or Deadpool, dive into the different characters and get these selfie rooms and things like that. And so, it was great. It's great for the brands, because then you take a photo, you share it, etc. So it's sort of really resonated. And that's a big part of when we started brainstorming about the museum, how we wanted to approach the museum. So versus it being a flat, like a flatter experience, we wanted to make sure that it was going to be something you could really immerse yourself into.

[7:14] Alan Seales: That's interesting, because when I think about the actual logistics that go into building the set, building these experiences, right? What's the difference between hiring an actual set designer and a movie, anyone who's going to build a set, like the person who, whoever built the set for Game of Thrones, did you reach out to them and you're like, we need something that doesn't cost $53.2 million that's going to last two months in Times Square? How does the production side of it work? Because this to me is fascinating that you wouldn't just hire the same people. Or do you hire the same people?

[7:50] Diane Nicoletti: Well, no, I mean, we usually don't, but we take a lot of direction from the scenic designers. So if we're working with HBO, they obviously have the rights to their full IP, if you will. And so, from that standpoint, we get a lot of like mood boards and maybe blueprints and things like that to help like recreate it, but in bite size form. So we can't create this gigantic world, because that would take over a good majority of not even Times Square, like of a section of New York, and you just can't really have that size of an experience, right? So you create these like smaller versions of it. And a lot of the people that work on the shows go from gig to gig to gig, so they actually can't really, you know, stop and do something from an experiential standpoint.

So there's all these great fabricators and designers that I've worked with over the years. And many of them actually worked on the Museum of Broadway, too. So Square Design out of Brooklyn created a lot of these different worlds and then worked on the Museum of Broadway with us.

[8:56] Alan Seales: So when you're saying fabricators, you're saying people or companies who take like a drawing or a model, a scale model and like have to figure out how to build it as a one time thing. It's not a mass produced entity, right?

[9:08] Diane Nicoletti: Yeah, so kind of our process was, first we had the concept, if you will, and this is very much what we would do with our clients and brands as well, is that you have the concept, what is that experience going to be? Then we work with one of our designers, and whether that be an outside designer, whether that be an internal designer, but they actually create renderings. So 3D renderings of what the look and feel will be of that room or that space. And then from there, we kind of took it to the fabricators to understand how they would build it. And then once it goes to the fabricator, they create shop drawings, they figure out with us and with the designer what materials are going to be used. So are we talking about wood?

Are we talking about sculpted foam? Are we talking about glitter panels? It could just go on and on in terms of the different materials that go into building that environment. And then once that's approved, then it gets into really building it. And then Julia and I would go over to Square all the time and be like, we like this, we don't like this, let's improve upon this. And then a lot of times the designers, because each of the rooms for the museum, we partnered with a different artist or designer. And so they would come with us to the shop at Square Design to guide them too, in terms of like, yes, this is working, this is something that we need to switch out on. And so it was a fun part of the process, and we were there pretty often.

[10:52] Alan Seales: That's fascinating. I mean, I guess it sounds like it's a lot easier slash harder because of different reasons to take this giant mood board, a giant set and squish it down into one room or a couple of rooms or one experience or whatever. And one of the first things I ever went to in one of these things was the Trolls experience, like the Trolls movie, because I took my kids when they were a lot younger, I took them there in Times Square or something, it was like a little pop up. But yeah, it's fun because you get to walk through the environment, which as a concept, I think for movies and for, I guess for brands seems like a relatively new thing. But I mean, Disney's been doing this in their parks for decades.

You've got that sort of precedent that gets set. And I've always loved what they've done in the queue, the line waiting to get in, they make the atmosphere, they set the mood and they set the music and they make you part of it. So when you go on the ride, you've already like, your brain is already there. I love that. So Julie, you said you had an event company or have an event company, and then Diane, I guess, so you were one of the vendors that Julie would hire. And gosh, I'm thinking back—

[12:14] Diane Nicoletti: I think reverse.

[12:15] Alan Seales: Oh, reverse?

[12:16] Diane Nicoletti: I was just going to say, it's kind of the reverse.

[12:18] Alan Seales: Yeah. So what I did, I can explain that.

[12:42] Diane Nicoletti: I started that in, I think it was 2009. My first thing I did, what I worked on, was a Vitamin Water 10 pop-up shop in SoHo. And then that led to the next, and led to the next, and it ended up being a lot of great work around people's schedules when they were available, and then they could go audition and live their life. And so it's really cool because a lot of those people have gone on and are like big movie stars now. And so it's pretty cool that the things that we did have enabled them to go to that audition and book that job and all of that while living in New York City.

[13:26] Alan Seales: So you take credit for launching their careers. I understand.

[13:30] Diane Nicoletti: No, no. No, I just got to help a little bit, help a little bit to pay their rent. The important thing, yeah. No, but it was really cool. And after a while, I realized I wasn't necessarily living my dream. I was helping them to live theirs, and I was like, what is my dream? And I realized I wanted to be on the producing end in Broadway. And so that kind of started at the same time as I was continuing to do this work. And Julie was one of my clients, and so when she would have an event that she had put together and created, she would then hire me to staff the people who worked at the event and help to bring it to life and kind of like on-site management with the people and stuff like that. So we worked together for many, many years. And I think without that, we would never have what we created within Museum of Broadway because it's really a marriage of that world with Broadway, I guess.

[14:28] Alan Seales: That makes sense. Okay. I'm a big Disney nerd, so in my brain, it's all getting compared to Disney. And I love, love, love, love when you go to like the Haunted Mansion at Disney World or the Tower of Terror, the people who help you maintain the queue, who are helping corral, they're all in character. They're like, welcome to the Haunted Mansion, right? That takes acting. That's an actor. So it makes total sense now how the two of you have started working together and why you started hiring Broadway actors, because why not? They're right in our backyard.

[15:07] Alan Seales: We're going to take a short break. Stay tuned for more of the episode.

[15:16] Alan Seales: Back up, I guess, for both of you. And Julie, I'll start with you. Like, where did your love for theater even come from? Why theater in the first place?

[15:29] Julie Boardman: When I was five, I went to, like, my parents tried me out in softball and soccer and the things that, you know, every child, I think, does. And my neighbor across the street was doing a children's theater production of Annie. And so we just went to go see it. And I turned to my mom and I said, that's what I want to do. And literally, then I was in, like, the next show that that children's theater produced, which was The Sound of Music. And I was a goat in the lonely goat herd. Really, really big, cool things in my past. But no, I, like, have always had, from that moment, I guess, like, a love of theater and performing and singing, dancing, acting. That became my entire life. And in college, after I graduated at USA, I ended up majoring in music industry and, like, working at a record label when I first moved to New York.

But my passion has always been Broadway and, like, theater. And so I went with my roommate on an audition for 42nd Street, and I booked the national tour. And I was like, oh, crazy. And so I quit my job and I went on tour. And then when I came back, I did, like, the agent thing. I got an agent. I worked in a restaurant. And then I had all these friends from auditioning and randomly fell into being, like, a promotional model brand ambassador myself, and then started this company, and then all the rest of the story that you heard before. So, yeah, I've just, it's, you know, theater has been my whole life. Kids, you know, would listen to cool things, like, top hits on the radio or whatever. And I would be, like, in the car listening to, like, Broadway show tunes, because that was the thing I loved the most.

[17:01] Diane Nicoletti: Yeah. Yeah, me too. Me too. Me too. Yeah. So I know, like, every word to everything.

[17:06] Alan Seales: Oh, as you should. There's no judgment. This is a safe space. We are the theater podcast. So you can nerd out as much as you want. I love it.

[17:30] Alan Seales: Diane, what about your love for performing and, I mean, creating these events? You're creating an atmosphere, which, yeah, so I'll let you tell your story. Where did this all come in?

[17:39] Diane Nicoletti: Yeah. Well, I grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and I did, you know, dance from kindergarten through my senior year of high school, and was in the musicals. I was, like, a chunk monk, is what we would call myself, or, yeah, a skunk monk, sorry, in Peter Pan, because I was, like, half chipmunk, half skunk, because they didn't have, like, the full costume. So that was kind of funny. But then I was, like, a nun, Aunt Ella, Marty, and Grease. So, like, you know, really got into that in high school. And then I was in a group called Productions. And so that, actually, we put on the musical, we put on Homecoming, we put on the prom, et cetera. And so that's one of the first places where I really started doing events, if you will.

And then all my internships in college, you know, working at Staple Center and Staple Center Foundation, got to do a lot with, like, the Lakers and the Kings and such. And then I went into, you know, doing Super Bowl activations, and then eventually just started my own agency. And so really sort of snowballed from there. But I've always been a fan. Like, I've never, outside of the high school performance, which, honestly, I don't count, but like, a little bit, like, I never professionally pursued it. You know, I just always was a fan and loved coming to New York and seeing Broadway shows. And so, you know, one of the rooms that we have is the Phantom of the Opera room. And when I took my brother around, that was the first show that we ever saw on Broadway.

And we both got, like, so emotional, like, being in the room and reminiscing about our first time going to see a Broadway show. So, yeah, so a little different than Julie, but still a fan of Broadway.

[19:25] Alan Seales: No, it's, I was hoping that you said exactly what you said, which was, I just decided to do my own thing. And it seems like both of you, at some point, were just, were just like, well, I'm just gonna create my own work, because, for whatever the reason, like, you know, Diane, you're saying, I just started my own agency. I, you know, there's reason behind why you started your own agency, I'm sure. And then, like, Julie, you were, you quit your job, went on tour, came back, and then started your own company. And I just love how, I guess, it makes the most sense. You guys knew each other since college and have worked together, and you're both, you seem like a similar mindset of just, well, if it doesn't exist, let's just go create it, which I think is a lovely transition to get, to dive into the Museum of Broadway, because, like, when the, when I first heard about it, it was like, oh, yeah, why isn't there a museum of Broadway?

There's an ice cream museum, there's a spy museum, there's a sex museum, like, New York has every kind of museum. And people come to New York for Broadway, why is there not a Broadway museum? So, can you tell the story of, like, you know, the late night drinking session, where you were like, let's just make a museum and make our lives even harder? How did that come about?

[20:41] Diane Nicoletti: Oh, my gosh, I was just gonna say, you're not totally far off. I don't know if we were totally slurring at that point. But like, we definitely had, we had wine, and Julie, it was Julie's idea. And she came up to me, and she was just like, yeah, someone was telling me about, like, you know, or why, they asked the question of, like, why is there not a museum dedicated to Broadway? And Julie stopped and was like, yeah, I guess there isn't one. And then when she shared that with me, I was like, oh, my gosh, that's brilliant. Like, why isn't there one? That's ridiculous. And so then we just started, it took a little bit, but then we just started whiteboarding, and coming up with how we would approach it.

You know, probably not even really realistically thinking we were going to be able to do it or pursue it, but just for fun, like brainstorming. And then, and then it started getting real. And people, it resonated with folks. And, you know, Julie had the smart idea of taking it around on like, sort of a goodwill tour within the Broadway community to just make sure people had a sense of it, felt comfortable with the way we were approaching it and everything before we got too far down the rabbit hole. And then it was just sort of step by step along the way, you know, building the team out, building the creative concept out, you know, so on and so forth.

[22:01] Alan Seales: I guess for those who don't, who don't know, I mean, it's like, it's a self guided museum, where it takes an average of like an hour and a half, right, to walk end to end for most people. And, well, I guess, yeah, describe, describe the highlights for those who don't know, because I know that it celebrates the game changers of Broadway, which to me, one of my, one of my standard closing questions that I will ask you to, and spoiler, so I normally don't give you this much advance notice, but I ask at the end, like, what's one show if you could see for the rest of your, you can only see one show for the rest of your life, you can see it over and over again, what would it be? Don't answer it yet, we'll get to the end.

But my answer is Rent, because it's one of those shows that just changed the game, it made it accessible. And we have, like every show that, that you think back on that have been like, oh, this is, this is something that changed the format that made it, that made theater open to a new demographic, a new group of people, a new generation of people. You've got a step along the journey in the museum to celebrate it, and every, and these rooms, so you've got like, Rent, and Oklahoma, and Phantom, and you get the, the, like these costumes, and the original costumes in some cases, or replicas of these amazing, amazing things. And I guess when you were storyboarding it all out, A, why decide on this format?

Why does, why not just have like, an art museum of sorts of like, here's a bunch of props, and here's a bunch of costumes? Why, why sell, why do the immersive side of it? And then the other is, how did you narrow this down?

[23:37] Julie Boardman: Yeah, those are really great questions. When we were whiteboarding, I was also giving Diane kind of a crash course in like, the Broadway community, and how it all operates, and the different relationships, and everything. And so taking a, that helped to guide, I think, some of the experience in the museum, because we really wanted to make sure, like, the first room that you come into is the Playbill room, and it's every single theater, 41 of them, organized alphabetically by theater, and everyone gets the exact same amount of space, whether you're a super long-running show, like Phantom of the Opera, or The Lion King, or you're a limited run of a play, or, you know, we wanted to make sure that people got to see how much theater is going on in New York every single night.

Because a lot of people, when they come to New York, they know those bigger titles, but they don't realize all the diversity of offerings of shows. And so you start there, and it is very like Switzerland, if you will. And then you go, and then you go into, you know, you walk through the store that says, let's start at the very beginning, and you go into the map room, that's what we call it, but it's the history of the theaters in New York City. So they started in the Financial District, and then how did Times Square and Broadway become what they are? And it's just a really fascinating story that Diane and I thought was interesting, and so we wanted to dedicate a room to that, so people could get a sense and understand that. So when you're in there, it's about a four-minute video, and that story comes to life before your eyes. And Julie James does the voiceover, Jen Tepper.

[25:24] Julie Boardman: A museum dedicated to Broadway. There's so many plays and musicals and people and these groundbreaking moments. And then that was sort of like a bit of an aha moment, I guess, when we figured that out. We were like, oh, what if, you know, people in general can agree that "Rent" was a major shift, right, in the theatre that was shown, or "Oklahoma" in its moment. And so, when you look through that lens, it actually, you know, it's a smaller list. So, as you're walking through the museum, through this timeline, you have these timeline walls that are much more like what you would expect to see in a museum, in terms of like content. So, it's plays, musicals, and then these groundbreaking milestone moments.

Ben West was our timeline curator there. And you'll see, you know, things that represent the different shows. So, maybe like, you know, a handwritten lyric sheet, or maybe a photo, it may be, you know, all sorts of different things to represent the shows or the people, these moments. And then you get to an exhibit designed by either a Broadway scenic designer or an artist from outside of Broadway, who, you know, we had kind of the seed of the idea, if you will, and then, you know, found artists or designers to match that. And then they obviously took it kind of to the next level. And so, the room comes to life around you, and you're like, immersed in the Ziegfeld Follies. And then in "Show Boat," it's a paper artist.

And then in "Oklahoma," you're walking through a cornfield. And in "West Side Story," you're in Doc's Drugstore. So, each has its own spin. And then, you know, Diane mentioned earlier, "Game of Thrones" owns all their IP, we actually had to go to all of the estates and authors to get permission in order to do the exhibits around the shows and work with them, you know, as we were going as well. And so, you end up getting all the way to present day. And then you knock on a stage door, and you go backstage into how do you make a Broadway show? And what are all the different jobs that you could have? And, you know, I think people know, you know, to be an actor, but they don't realize, you know, how many jobs it takes.

Or, you know, they might know that there's a costume designer, but like all the artisans behind that person. So, and we wanted to kind of expose that and worked with David Rockwell and his team to put that together. And that was just like an important thing as we are going through is just showing people a little bit behind the curtain. And hopefully, it helps people to experience Broadway a bit differently when they go to see the next show, they look at it, instead of just loving the show, they have a deeper appreciation, I think. And then we have a special exhibit, which rotates. And then you exit through the gift shop, you also enter through the gift shop, and it's open to the public, whether they come to the museum or not.

And then something else that was really important to us, again, while we were whiteboarding, is, you know, education, kind of the next generation, that piece of it. And so, we made sure that we created a rehearsal studio that doubles as an event space. So, we can have, you know, panel discussions, master classes, all sorts of programming like that to kind of be a further, you know, place for people to learn. And so, you know, as Diane said, step by step is very much my motto. So, we're like, let's open a museum. And then now it's running. And then now we'll start to expand the programming that we offer in that space, which is really exciting. And it's, you know, the museum is a, you know, the community kind of coming together to make this happen, because it hasn't existed before.

And so, you know, we say it's like, you know, by the community and all the things, because it's really a lot of people, you know, coming together to make this possible. So, yeah. And to have a place that celebrates Broadway in the middle of Times Square, it does seem really obvious. So, I think Diane and I are a little bit, like, humbled and just really grateful that we were the ones to be able to help make this happen and put our spin on it from our past, you know, experience in all the fan activations and promotional events and things like that. So, we tried to make something that we thought people would like. And even up until we opened, we were like, we hope people like this. And then it turns out they do.

[30:55] Alan Seales: Diane, is this your first foray into Broadway producing?

[31:09] Diane Nicoletti: I mean, because it is. Yeah. I guess I've invested in some shows in the past, but not produced anything.

[31:21] Alan Seales: Is it as easy and simple and straightforward as you ever expected it to be?

[31:27] Diane Nicoletti: It is not.

[31:28] Alan Seales: Your eyes went so wide.

[31:34] Diane Nicoletti: It definitely is not. It is not. I mean, I do think any production, whether it be film, television, there's so many layers, and there's so many people that are involved, there's always a complication. A good complication, but a complication with that. But I think that, yeah, Broadway just has a little bit of a different way that they conduct business, I think, a little different than at least the experience that I have in other industries.

[32:06] Alan Seales: Oh, yeah. It's kind of insane how complicated it is. And I don't quite understand why this is. But it feels like, to me, that Broadway is sort of the last, not maybe the last, but one of the final to adopt new technology or to embrace kind of new things, because they want to keep doing what works, right? Because it's a proven entity. So was that, for the two of you breaking into this space, you're introducing a museum into a typically theatrical performance-based medium. But as you were breaking in, or I guess not breaking in, because you're both involved in entertainment in your own way, but like integrating your own skill sets into the Broadway space, what was sort of the biggest challenge for each of you that you had to overcome to get the museum to where it is now?

And put COVID aside for a second, because supply chain issues, and you're literally constructing in the middle of a pandemic. That's understood, and we'll acknowledge that. But outside of that, the whole business side of it, what was sort of the most surprising?

[33:14] Julie Boardman: Yeah, I want to touch on one thing you said, just of Broadway being a little bit, excuse me, behind the curve. I remember being at a conference, and I don't know if it was, this was way before the museum, I think, existed, and the whiteboarding and all of that. But I remember being at a Broadway conference, and everyone was talking about how do we get millennials to come to Broadway, and continue to grow the audience, and all of these things. And at the time, I was working in my staffing agency on a VR experience for Marriott. And I had said to someone at the conference, what if you show people what Broadway looks like, or something? So I kind of wonder if that was a little germ of the idea.

We didn't go as far as VR in the museum. But we do have AR and all sorts of things. And I think, we really wanted it to be dazzling, and push things forward, and we'll continue to grow and evolve that piece of it, I think, over time. Sorry, Diane, I totally jumped in. But go ahead.

[34:23] Diane Nicoletti: No, mine was going to be a little bit different in terms of the process, I guess, what you were just saying, in terms of the challenges. I think, at the end of the day, this was a stretch for both of us. I mean, A, a museum of Broadway hasn't existed before. So there were things that both of us, we always say, we have very different strengths and weaknesses, which is maybe a good thing for our partnership. Julie is so, so great with the networking, and the relationships, and everything like that. And I very much feel comfortable in back of house. So like, and I'm really more of like the production side, like on the end, and, you know, working with, you know, Square fabricator, and, you know, dealing with all the other, like lighting, and the tech, and everything like that.

And so anyway, so we complement each other really well. But, you know, for me, I'd never done major construction before, you know, we would work with GCs here and there, depending on if we were taking over a space temporarily for like a pop up, but we never really needed to do anything permanent. And so that meant not necessarily needing to work with GCs. So outside of my own personal experience, like, you know, doing renovations in my house, and things like that, I didn't have that professional experience. So we hired a construction project manager, because that was a place we, you know, we obviously had a hole, we had a gap, and we needed someone that knew what to do, and could guide us appropriately.

You know, and similarly, and Julie can talk about the things that, you know, she hadn't done before, whether that be licensing or things like that, that, you know, we had either lawyers help us or other folks kind of help guide us in how we would approach it. So, you know, we're really lucky that we were able to find really amazing, let's call them teammates, because it really was sort of that team approach to the museum to help us where, you know, we couldn't know everything, we didn't know everything. And so all of these folks really helped us make it better than we could, you know, that we could do on our own. So I think that that challenge isn't maybe the right word, but new, understanding new things, and, you know, not feeling bad about asking what might be a dumb question to some people, but just because we didn't know it. And so then asking that question, filling the gap, and then, you know, taking the steps forward.

[36:57] Alan Seales: Do either of you, now that you're on the other side of it, it just opened, I mean, it was scheduled to open a while back, but COVID delayed it, and it just opened November 15th, right? I have that right? So congratulations. It's now finally here, now finally open a couple months in. What was sort of, do each of you have like a standout pinch me moment? You know, if you're, you have Jane Krakowski walking through, or authentic costumes that are on display, or like Anthony Rapp came and was there in the "Rent" room, like any of this stuff, you're looking at these people in these spaces that have helped change our entire culture, a global culture, I might say, in some respects, right? So you've got these people that you're working with now, like at any point where either of you like, holy crap, I'm here working with so-and-so, or this person's here, and they're crying because of this, or whatever it is.

[38:06] Julie Boardman: I think also just the reception. Like Julie said, we were hoping that people were going to really like it, but until you get people in the door, you don't really know. And so from that standpoint, that was really good in terms of that feeling. Pretty much every single review has been good, or really good, I should say, in terms of being very complimentary about the thoughtfulness that went into designing the museum. So that definitely feels good. Tim Rice came early on, and he's just a lovely gentleman, and he was complimenting us and saying how much you guys have impacted the culture and the art form and everything. And that never felt like that was going to be part of this, right? It's like we were doing the thing.

We weren't necessarily creating art necessarily, but now I guess we have a cultural institution in some ways. And I think that was a little bit of the, oh, wow, I guess we are. And that is something that sort of surprised us and a little bit of that pinch me moment that it made such an impact. You're essentially creating an installation, and it's a permanent installation, right, that in theory can outlast every other show that you're talking about that is part of it. And Wicked someday may close, and Lion King someday may close, and all of these institutions that you think of when you think of Broadway and Times Square. And then hopefully, fingers crossed, the Museum of Broadway is going to just be there forever and be able to document the history of Broadway now going forward.

And I think that's a massive accomplishment. That's part of the pinch me moment, I think, that I would take away from all of this is that it's helping to create something that's literally going to help record history on an open-ended basis. And because you can change as the industry changes, you're still documenting the industry, but you just continue and continue. I think it's just brilliant. So congratulations on opening and getting there and raising so much money. I know the business side, the producing side of Broadway is quite an interesting thing that a lot of people don't know about. They just want to show up and dance around and don't realize, like you said, the amount of staff and jobs and talent it takes, even within a costume designing entity, you still have all these people.

Someone designs it, but then someone has to build it. And there's people who are sequin experts and other people who are fabric experts. And there's all sorts of different things that you need to do. So anyway, I think it's brilliant.

[43:17] Diane Nicoletti: So I want to end now with the three closing questions that I foreshadowed earlier. So let's see. Diane, we'll start with you for this first one. There's three questions. The first one is very simply, is what motivates you?

[43:31] Diane Nicoletti: Trying to do something new that I haven't been able to do before.

[43:38] Julie Boardman: Awesome. Okay, Julie?

[43:43] Julie Boardman: Actually, probably the same thing. I think that's a commonality that we have. It's finding that next challenge, and perhaps it's disruptive. I think that's a theme in my life. I try to just shake things up a little bit. But yeah, and the challenge and just trying to figure it out. And there's that quote about if it was easy, everyone would do it. I think we've sent that back and forth to each other over time, just to keep motivating each other as we went through this quite lengthy process to open it. And someone said, you had the baby, and now it's an infant, and soon it will be a toddler. So it's been a really fun process working on this.

[44:40] Julie Boardman: All right. So then, Julie, you'll start this next question then. This is the question. If you can only see one show for the... Oh, sorry. No, no, no. That's the last one. Oh, I'm skipping ahead. Okay. So now... Sorry, Julie. Second question. What advice would you give to your younger self and younger people listening now starting out down a similar path?

[45:00] Julie Boardman: Not to listen when people say no, and to forge your own path and realize that... Because I think when you're younger, like out of college, it's expected that you're supposed to intern, and then you're the assistant, and then you're the associate, and you work your way up in a company. That was never my path. My path has been all over the place. But it's gotten to me to where I am today, which will continue to grow and evolve too. So I think just if you believe in something, go after it with your whole heart and just the determination, I guess, with the passion and knowing, again, that step-by-step motto. It's very helpful. Just one step after the next, and you can do it too.

[45:56] Diane Nicoletti: It's a tough one, because I think it's important to have experience. I think it's important to get yourself financially sound to take the risk to do these bigger things, but it's not everything. So it's trying to have, especially when you're really young, having that balance of being able to either have a steady job or have a steady income. That could be waiting. That could be bartending. That could be a myriad of different things. But having a control on that, because that's really important. Not everyone is able to... They have to work, right? And so I think that that's an important thing to remember. But then also to take those little challenges. So early on, I was really scared about starting out on my own.

And I had a dad that worked for 30 years at Hershey Foods. And that was the path that you go on. And so I didn't necessarily have adult role models to take those risks. And so it was very scary. But then once I did, it opened up a whole myriad of different things and experiences that I wouldn't have been able to get if I would have just stayed on one path at a job. But it's also not for everyone. I think sometimes entrepreneurship is really glorified, and it really isn't for everyone. And so if you have a certain lifestyle or path in mind, again, maybe it's more of a pet project than a full project because it takes a lot out of you.

[47:46] Diane Nicoletti: Gotcha. Wow. Yeah. All right. So then, Diane, this is the question. If you could only see one show for the rest of your life, but you can see it as many times as you want, what would you see?

[47:57] Diane Nicoletti: Such a good one. I don't know. I actually listen to the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack all the time. So I don't know. I guess probably that one. And also, too, because it was my first show. So I have the great memories from that. So I'm going to pick Phantom. It's probably cliche, but I like it.

[48:15] Julie Boardman: Cool. Julie, what's yours?

[48:22] Julie Boardman: I really like your rant answer. So if I can pick two, that would be one of them. But if I can only pick one, I actually think An American in Paris. I was a co-producer on it. It was the first show I was part of on Broadway. And I'm sure I saw the show over 75, 80, I don't know how many times. And I could continue seeing it many, many, many more times just because the artistry on the stage was really incredible. And just, I don't know. Yeah. I really love that show. I absolutely love it.

[49:04] Alan Seales: Yeah, it was a good show. So how can we connect with the two of you on social media? And of course, the Museum of Broadway. Plug all your socials.

[49:15] Julie Boardman: So the Museum social is at Museum of Broadway. So we'd love for people to come check us out there and kind of see all the things that are happening at the museum.

[49:25] Julie Boardman: And then I guess my personal one is Miss Julie Boardman. I've never shared that publicly before.

[49:32] Diane Nicoletti: Well, you don't have to. We can leave it at it for a while.

[49:35] Julie Boardman: No, it's fine. I have four kids, so I keep mine private.

[49:41] Diane Nicoletti: True, true, true, true. All right. So I'll refrain from sharing mine.

[49:48] Alan Seales: Very, very, very fair. I've always go back and forth of like, how much do I want to share about my kids? But yeah, I get it. And four kids. Congratulations because doing that and starting a museum. Wow. That's impressive in and of itself.

[50:01] Diane Nicoletti: Yeah, she's superwoman, basically. I don't know how she does it. I have a dog. Like, I don't know how. It's very impressive. There's two home today. So sorry if there was some background noise. There's some sicknesses going around.

[50:16] Alan Seales: Yeah, it's happening. It's happening this time of year. You can get more amazing episodes like this on the theaterpodcast.com. I'm on socials at theater underscore podcast. Leave a rating and review wherever you're listening. Thank you to Jukebox the Ghost for the intro and outro music. And Julie and Diane, thank you so much. I've really enjoyed this. I knew about you and I knew about the museum, obviously, and diving into your histories has been really, really cool. So thank you for sharing.

[50:39] Julie Boardman: Thanks for having us.

[50:41] Diane Nicoletti: Thank you so much.