Museum of Moving Image Plans Two-Part ‘Sopranos’ Celebration with Cast Screenings and Production Exhibit

The Museum of the Moving Image will host two exhibitions dedicated to The Sopranos from Feb. 14 through May 31. Screenings with cast members anchor one program. A gallery showing production materials from the HBO series makes up the other.

Celebrating 'The Sopranos' Season 3: Three Evenings with David Chase and Special Guests runs from Feb. 26 to 28 in Astoria, Queens. Series creator David Chase will appear with cast members Steven Van Zandt, Dominic Chianese, Edie Falco, and Annabella Sciorra.

This marks the first time MOMI has devoted programming to a single season of a TV show. Season three aired 25 years ago. It features storylines that include Livia's death, Christopher becoming a made man, and the Jackie Aprile Jr. arc.

"A lot of people feel that season three was a real high water mark for the series," said Barbara Miller, MOMI's director of curatorial affairs, to The Record. "It's considered some of the best television ever made."

Thursday, Feb. 26 brings a screening of University with Steven Van Zandt in attendance. Friday, Feb. 27 will feature A Second Opinion with Dominic Chianese and Edie Falco joining Chase onstage. The Saturday, Feb. 28 screening of Amour Fou will have Annabella Sciorra joining the event.

A concurrent exhibition titled Stories and Sets for the Sopranos will run from Feb. 14 to May 31. The gallery will display around 50 pieces. Scripts, notes, photos, letters, and set designs fill the collection.

Four locations anchor the exhibit: Dr. Melfi's office, The Bada Bing Club, Tony and Carmela's home, and Satriale's Pork Store. Production design materials will show how real locations and studio sets were combined.

The Bada Bing club was filmed at Satin Dolls, a strip club in Lodi, but the office scenes were shot on a set built at Silvercup Studios in Queens. Tony's home is a house in North Caldwell where the pilot was shot on location, but interiors were recreated in Queens for the series.

"The kitchen was completely recreated so that you can't tell the difference," Miller said.

Satriale's Pork Store was based on Centanni's Meat Market in Elizabeth but was recreated in Kearny after the pilot. From 1999 to 2007, the series filmed in North Caldwell, Lodi, Bloomfield, Elizabeth, Wayne, Kearny, and other New Jersey locations.

The museum sits at 36-01 35th Ave. in Queens. More information is available at movingimage.org.