Broadway Behind the Scenes Tour in New York City

Our tour guide Mickey was wonderful, very knowledgable about the history of Broadway, and very passionate about the theater community in New York City! We really enjoyed the first half of the tour- walking around Times Square, walking by different Broadway theaters, and learning about the history of Broadway. The second half of the tour went through Hells Kitchen learning about the history of the neighborhood, learning the history of the Mafia’s presence in NYC, and seeing the rehearsal studio. The rehearsal studio wasn’t exactly what we were expecting as it was for off off broadway where our tour guide taught acting classes. I’d recommend this tour if you’re interested in the up-and-coming acting/theater community in NYC, but maybe not if you’re interested in seeing/learning specifically about Broadway.

This experience was not what I expected as a behind the scenes tour. The guide was not very engaging and rather than give informative and interesting stories about the theatres or broadway itself, gave a host of personal anecdotes that were just not at al relevant or interesting. Standing out the front of the theaters on the street and talking about the buildings is not a behind the scenes tour. After 2 hours of mindless wandering, we were lead to believe we’d be watching some rehearsals of broadway shows in the Open Jar spaces. This wasn’t the case and instead we stood in an empty studio and told “shows sometimes rehearse here”. I would think the kinds of people who book this experience would be fairly well versed in what a mirrored studio looks like, and if they’re not, I cannot see how this would be interesting. This all being said and done, the tour ran almost 30 mins over time and this just frustrated us even more. There were a handful of interesting facts shared, but overall I could have walked from 42nd to 44th Street with Wikipedia open on my phone and enjoyed it just as much - which wasn’t very much.