Museum of Broadway in Film

The Museum of Broadway in Film celebrates the powerful relationship between stage and screen, exploring how Broadway shows are reimagined for cinema. Commissioned by a Broadway industry donor, this museum honors the artistic crossover while inspiring a diverse audience of tourists, students, and industry professionals. The project objective is to spatially translate storytelling into design.

The design concept is Gustav Freytag’s Pyramid which describes the plot of a story-line. The museum’s circulation along the staircase mirrors Freytag’s Pyramid narrative of: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. The journey begins with public spaces of retail, restaurant, and rotating exhibits that introduce Broadway’s setting. Ascending levels then bring visitors to galleries, costume exhibits, and screening rooms that build suspense through key Broadway film moments. At the highest levels the climax is high-energy including a theater, black box, dance studio, and outdoor performance space. Guests then descend to lower areas as a falling action, before arriving at the cabaret to close the journey and create a lasting final impression.

A key challenge was transforming a literary theory into sequential circulation. A central staircase, beginning widest at the bottom and narrowing as it rises, physically embodies Freytag’s Pyramid, guiding visitors through the dramatic arc that supports the unfolding of the plot as you experience the museum.

Equity in the concept celebrates queer narratives, racially inclusive casting, and evolving social themes. Exhibits examine cultural shifts and representation, ensuring that both Broadway and film remain accessible to the world they portray.