BroadwayCon is pleased to announce that it will host a special Al Hirschfeld’s Broadway Treasures exhibition within the BroadwayCon Museum at BroadwayCon 2017. Featuring artwork from Al Hirschfeld’s storied career, this exhibition is organized in conjunction with the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, New York. “We have never gathered together just a selection of Hirschfeld’s Broadway work for a show in New York,” says Al Hirschfeld Foundation Creative Director David Leopold. “The BroadwayCon Museum will have Hirschfeld’s Sondheim and the Gershwins along with Hairspray, Guys and Dolls, and Phantom of the Opera. Even Shakespeare gets into the act!”

The BroadwayCon Museum gives attendees the opportunity to get an up-close look at some of Broadway’s treasures. This specially curated exhibit is the only place to see pieces from some of Broadway’s favorite shows, past and present.

Additionally, BroadwayCon is pleased to announce a panel with the Foundation and artists who depict the theatre, Drawn to the Theatre: Whose Lines, Whose Colors, Who Draws Your Story?, on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 4pm. The session will be moderated by David Leopold, Archivist, Al Hirschfeld Foundation.

For as long as there has been Broadway, there have been artists who’ve drawn productions and performers for the press and promotion. In the 20th Century, Al Hirschfeld’s drawings were such a big part of the Broadway experience that he has a theatre named for him. Learn from artists Squigs and Ken Fallin how they carry on the tradition in the 21st century in print and online.

Squigs’ illustrations have been seen regularly since 2010 as the Broadway Ink feature on Broadway.com. They have also appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Variety, Jennifer Ashley Tepper’s Untold Stories of Broadway series, and in promotional campaigns for Actors’ Equity Association (including their “Ask If It’s Equity” efforts and the cover of their centennial book Performance of the Century), Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS, the Theatre World Awards, and theatrical productions in New York, London, and around the world. Squigs is also the co-creator, designer, and illustrator of The Lights of Broadway Show Cards™, trading cards for Broadway fans. He was born and raised in Oregon, lived in Los Angeles for many years, and now calls New York City his home. Learn more at squigsonline.com.

Ken Fallin began his career in 1983 by creating witty pen and ink Caricatures for the wildly successful satirical revue, ‘Forbidden Broadway”. These drawings were done as an homage to the great theatrical Caricaturist A Hirschfeld. So successful was this concept, that Ken designed artwork for the show’s phenomenal thirty year run.

Subsequently, Ken’s instantly recognizable, intricately detailed pen and ink celebrity portraits have been published internationally by Such diverse and distinguished publications as The Wall Street Journal, InStyle Magazine, The New Yorker Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Politico.com, and Barron’s Magazine.

Ken has also produced stylish and eye catching art for major ad Campaigns, posters and Specially Commissioned Corporate gifts for presumably satisfied clients as HBO, Showtime, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Opera Company, American Express, Belvedere Vodka, CBS News, Walt Disney Productions, The Peter Norton Foundation, and Microsoft.

An animated TV commercial that Ken illustrated for CNBC’s Squawk Box” was nominated for an EMMY Award. Several original Ken Fallin posters are in the permanent poster Collection of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. A number of his original pen and ink drawings now hang in the venerable Players Club, and he regularly Contributes theatre drawings to BroadwayWorld.com

Private collectors of Ken’s work include Angela Lansbury, Bradley Cooper, Barbra Streisand, Bernadette Peters, Frank Langella, Sir Patrick Stewart, Warren Buffett, and Sir Cameron Mackintosh.

 David Leopold organized the archive of Al Hirschfeld’s work for the artist, visiting Hirschfeld in his studio at least once a week for thirteen years until the artist’s death in 2003. Leopold is now the Creative Director for the Al Hirschfeld Foundation. His latest book, The Hirschfeld Century: A Portrait of the Artist and His Age, published by Alfred A. Knopf to coincide with a major retrospective that Leopold curated for the New York Historical Society has won universal acclaim. The Washington Post called it an “instant classic,” and Amazon selected it for its “Top Books of 2015.” His other books include David Levine’s American Presidents (Fantagraphics, 2008); Irving Berlin’s Show Business: Broadway-Hollywood-America, (Harry N. Abrams, 2005 and listed as a “Top Gift Pick” by the Boston Globe and New York Times); Hirschfeld’s Hollywood (Abrams, 2001). He is also the Picture Editor of the Lincoln Center Theater Review magazine.

The mission of The Al Hirschfeld Foundation is to promote interest in the theater and dramatic arts by supporting not-for-profit museums, libraries, theaters and similar cultural institutions. The Foundation fulfills its mission by making grants to such organizations, by mounting exhibitions of Al Hirschfeld’s artworks at museums and other venues and by donating or lending Al Hirschfeld’s artworks to such organizations.

The Foundation maintains an extensive collection of Hirschfeld artworks and lends pieces to institutions all over the world. Papers from the first half-century of Hirschfeld’s career are held by the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.  The Harvard Theatre Collection holds the largest public collection of Hirschfeld art and ephemera. There are also significant holdings at the Library of Congress, the National Portrait Gallery, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. A database of all of his works can be found at AlHirschfeldFoundation.org.

BroadwayCon is theatre’s answer to comic-con, tailor made for fans. From January 27–29, 2017, join some of Broadway’s biggest fans, performers, and creators from classic and current shows as we gather at the incomparable Jacob K. Javits Convention Center to perform, discuss, debate, and celebrate theatre. BroadwayCon 2017 will feature panels, performances, interviews, workshops, singalongs, and more, all packed into an epic three-day weekend. Past panels have included previews from upcoming Broadway shows, conversations with the casts and creatives of this season’s hits, and discussions featuring the industry’s top producers and designers, not to mention the giant Opening Ceremony, the nighttime concerts, and the dance parties. BroadwayCon is produced by Mischief Management and Playbill. The BroadwayCon Artistic Director of Headline Programming is David Alpert.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.BroadwayCon.com.