About the project

September 17–December 11, 2021

Company, Follies, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd. These popular Broadway shows and iconic sets were seen like never before in a pop-up installation, thanks to artist Henry Lee of Lego Broadway Sets. Brick By Brick, Putting It Together: The Broadway Set Miniatures of Henry Lee showcases Lee’s intricate, miniature reimaginings of set designs built with LEGO® bricks.

Boris Aronson’s original Broadway and touring set models for Company, A Little Night Music, and Follies along with related archival Library material were displayed next to six of Lee’s renditions. This marked the first time both Company set models were on view together. The installation also featured video footage from the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive (TOFT), and set pieces from Evita and Sweeney Todd, as seen in Prince of Broadway. Photographs from the Billy Rose Theatre Division’s unparalleled photography collection will also illustrate how the sets came to life on stage.

Many of the archival materials on display gave visitors an opportunity to see selections from In the Company of Harold Prince: Broadway Producer, Director, Collaborator, which the Library closed early in March of 2020 due to the pandemic.

“I loved watching Henry’s set designs become an online sensation early in the pandemic,” said Doug Reside, Lewis and Dorothy Cullman Curator of the Billy Rose Theatre Division, “not only for their playful take on Broadway sets, but because inspiring creativity is part of the Library for the Performing Arts’ mission, and Henry’s sets are so creative. It is an absolute pleasure to display his works at the Library alongside the materials that inspired him, and a delightful opportunity to welcome visitors back into our space.”

Exhibition Design: Christine Rung
Graphic Design: Adam Cohen

Photography by Jonathan Blanc