If you want a glimpse of what real life might have looked like for Midge Maisel and the rest of the characters from the Amazon Prime series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, all you have to do is travel to the West Village of Manhattan.
The unofficial Mrs. Maisel's Marvelous Tour of New York City will transport you to the 1950s and 1960s, where you can see the place Midge would have performed stand-up comedy, or Caffe Reggio, where Abe would have met his lawyer. You'll ride in a 1957 Studebaker as you take in Washington Square Park where Midge listened to activists on the award-winning series or even sift through records at The Music Inn, the shop that sold Midge's fictional comedy albums.
"There's something about movies and TV that is so magical, but when you walk in and you see that it's real it's the next level of that," said Stephanie Windland, a tour guide for Mrs. Maisel's Marvelous Tour of New York City. "And that you're a part of it."
The tour, which is unaffiliated with the Prime hit, may help fans who are eagerly waiting for the next season, giving them a little show-related insight as production slowly resumes under pandemic protocols. Though The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was renewed for a fourth season in December 2019, it only resumed filming this January.
"A lot of shows can't provide new seasons right now," Windland explained. "And so to say, like, let's give you something new. You love 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,' but I bet you don't know this about this. Let me feel like Midge for a little bit, or let's discuss your favorite characters. Let's go deeper than what you already know."
The tour was started by Georgette Blau, who started her company On Location Tours 21 years ago. She got the idea to create guided walking experiences based on areas where movies and TV shows were filmed after she realized she lived near where the namesake characters from "The Jeffersons" would have lived. On Location Tours now has several options in New York and Boston, with plans to open Los Angeles tours in the future.
"We've been a great, safe way to get your TV fix and in a very tangible way when you're not able to finish your TV shows or movies or are catching up on the TV shows and movies," Blau said.
Other tours include Boston TV and Movie Sites that features locations for Cheers and The Departed, as well as New York City packages for Sex and the City and Sopranos fans.
For people who want to enjoy something from the comfort of their own home, the team developed a Friends virtual tour thanks to renewed interest around the show's 25th anniversary. It includes a kit based on the hit series, with chopsticks, an umbrella, coffee and a mug from the fictional coffee house Central Perk, and an invitation to a virtual Friends trivia night, among other things. There's also a corresponding video to show people the places that inspired parts of the series.
"Probably when it got onto Netflix and onto HBO the interest became even bigger. We have younger generations that are interested in Friends," she explained.
Though the intention was never to create a socially-distant activity, Blau points out it may help people take a reprieve from the constant anxiety of COVID.
"They watch these shows, especially during the pandemic," Blau said. "They're catching up on all these TV shows and movies, and I think they love the idea of escaping."
