Museum Access Review -
Museum of Broadway

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Image of the entrance to the Museum of Broadway with the text “Access Review” on top

 

Note

This is a review of the accessibility of the museum and its exhibits as a way to prep folks with various needs before they go see it.

This is not meant to scare anyone away from going. As I say when I review shows, most have about the same amount of content warnings and sensory warnings to go along with it, they’re just rarely explicitly written out.

For some people, knowing these things ahead of time makes it easier to enjoy their experience because they know what to expect and can accommodate their needs better. And, often, makes those people more likely to see it in the first place. I hope that it’s helpful!

I am also happy to clarify any specifics, just send me a message or an email and I will respond when I can.

General Access

When you walk in through the front doors, go straight and they will scan your ticket and let you into the door on the right. You then go up three flights of stairs and follow the designated path through each floor, working your way down. Also the lobby has a lot of sparkly/shiny.

There is an elevator, just ask one of the lovely attendants (they’re all so nice!!) and they will help you out. Though just a heads up, all the staircases are also exhibits.

Museum accessibility:

  • There is one gender neutral/accessible bathroom on each of the floors, usually hiding around corners.

  • There are also bathrooms in the basement where the coat check is, I didn’t figure out how to get there to find them (there’s an accessible coat check on floor 1)

  • Most of the exhibits are structured in a way that you can often hear 2-4 different songs and/or audios playing at the same time in a very overwhelming way, I would recommend ear defenders. 

Light/Sound Floor 3

  • The wall at the top of the stairs has shiny sequins on it

  • The introductory film is not captioned (though the lights stay up partially during it! Super rad)

  • Through the beaded curtain, the pink wall on the right has bright neon lights

  • Oklahoma - semi-fast color changing lights

  • Just after Oklahoma is a backless bench  

  • West Side Story - neon sign at the entrance

  • Cabaret - dim lighting and stationary carnival/bulb lights (there are chairs with backs here)

  • Hair - psychedelic energy (colorful murals and blue lighting); there is a bathroom around the corner 

  • Company (after Fosse/Sondheim) - very very disorienting bright lights and lots of mirrors at the start of this exhibit. It looks like you need to walk straight, that’s actually a wall, the path is more of an S shape

  • After The Wiz is a flight of stairs with sparkly green walls and a neon sign above

Light/Sound Floor 2

  • After A Chorus Line, there is another room full of mirrors with lights (less disorienting than Company)

  • Annie - neon yellow sign

  • Ain’t Misbehavin’ - flashing/strobing lights, moving lights, and carnival lights in three layers of arches in a row. Also quite disorienting

  • AIDS exhibit - backless bench 

  • After Phantom there are flashing/strobing white lights 

  • RENT - you can hear 4 different songs at once in parts of this exhibit

  • Lion King - another backless bench

  • After The Producers - 

    • lights shining off of glass cabinets and at certain points into your eyes

    • high pitched ringing noise? that may have just been something being weird while I was there

    • lots of bright white lights on the walls

  • Bathroom is at the end to the left by the Six costume

Light/Sound Floor 1

  • On floor 2, go through the Stage Door and down the stairs

  • At the bottom there is dim light and a very slowly moving projection

  • Around the corner is a ghost light and blue uplights. Don’t look straight into those, I don’t recommend it

  • The “Making Of” exhibit has lots of overlapping audio of at least 8 different interviews being played at the same time. All of these interviews are captioned.

  • There is a backless bench at the end of this exhibit

  • Chicago - bright lights by the entrance

  • There is a bathroom at the end of this exhibit

If you want more information about what the inside of the museum looks like and what to expect, MickeyJoTheatre on YouTube has a video documenting his trip.