Ep252 - Julie Boardman and Diane Nicoletti: Creating Broadway's First Museum

Julie and Diane are both co-founders of The Museum of Broadway in Times Square which opened November, 2022.

Julie Boardman and Diane Nicoletti have teamed up in 2022 to bring the best of the Broadway and experiential worlds in the form of The Museum of Broadway in Times Square. Julie and Diane have known each other for decades now and the two chronicle their journey from being in the same sorority to finally working together on many successful projects. Having worked on fan experiences, Diane explains what it's like building sets of popular tv shows and movies and the overall process of building a set. Julie, on the other hand, talks about an event staffing agency she started in 2009 to help Broadway performers, which then pushed her to pursue her dream of being on the producing end of Broadway. This shift was also the beginning of Diane and Julie's partnerships. With a similar mindset of creating something that doesn’t exist yet, it’s no surprise that the two would work together to create a museum dedicated to Broadway. Julie and Diane share how it all started, the challenges they came across along the way, and how they made it an immersive experience for the visitors. Following its success, the two share their standout, pinch-me moments, including a visit from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, and the overall positive reception from people—a true mark that they have created something impactful and lasting for the theatre community.

Julie Boardman is a two-time Tony Award-winning producer who is currently a co-producer on the Broadway revival of "Funny Girl" and “A Doll’s House”. Her other Broadway credits include "An American in Paris", "Carousel", "Company", "Dames at Sea", "Head Over Heels", "Hughie", "Indecent", and "The Inheritance". Her tour credits include "An American in Paris", "Dreamgirls", and "Peter and the Starcatcher". Apart from being a Tony voter and member of The Broadway League, Julie is also on the Theatre Committee at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Leadership Council for the Costume Industry Coalition among others. Her company, Boardman Productions, has worked with numerous leading brands including Nike, Maybelline, Vogue, Victoria’s Secret, Microsoft, Diet Coke, Samsung, Game of Thrones, and Disney’s The Lion King on their activations and fan experiences.

Diane Nicoletti is 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, and SXSW. She's also the founder of the award-winning experiential marketing agency, Rubik Marketing, and has had the privilege of working on amazing properties like Game of Thrones, Deadpool, Frozen Hotel Transylvania, Dumbo, Shark Tank, The Muppets, How To Train Your Dragon, American Horror Story, Ghostbusters, among many others.

Connect with Julie and Diane:

• Museum of Broadway: www.themuseumofbroadway.com
• Instagram: @museumofbroadway
• Julie’s Instagram: @msjulieboardman

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