Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum

A couple of months ago, I got a coupon offer for Madame Tussaud’s. Knowing that it was on the museum list and that I had to go and figuring that Brandon would be the perfect person to go with, I bought two. Madame Tussaud’s ranked just above the Air and Space Museum on my list of museums that I was excited to see (to be clear, I am not looking forward to the Air and Space Museum). As often happens in life, when expectations are set exceedingly low, surprising things can happen.

http://www.madametussauds.com/washington/


Brandon was very excited to see the Spy Museum (see later posting re: bar being set too high), so we planned to go into the city and make a museum day of it. The building itself is striking against the more modern backdrop of the surrounding buildings, but pop music blaring onto the street at the entrance didn’t do a lot to get us more excited for the visit.

We worked our way down into the basement of the museum where the tour started with a video of the making of Beyonce…one of the newer additions to the museum. I have to say it was fascinating. The eyes are eerily lifelike and there are hundreds of colors that are chosen from to match the subject’s eyes perfectly. Another fact that I hadn’t known? Only the head of the statues is actually wax. MT’s encourages people to pose with the statues and get up close and personal so the bodies are a more durable plastic while the heads themselves are poured wax. Both are painstakingly painted, matching skin tone, makeup, even fingernails to the subject. Even the hair is real human hair hand threaded into the wax skull (I don’t think that it is actually the subjects’ hair, but I can’t confirm this either way).

Mask of Lincoln's Face

Madame Tussaud herself with wax head

From the video, we went to Madame Tussaud’s hall of Presidents. All of the presidents and a few first ladies posed in period clothing. What fascinated me about the Presidents and the other historical figures is how much seeing them in the flesh, so to speak, brought them to life…the height, build, and even postures of these famous men and women is so lost in most paintings and sculptures. The artists putting these statues together do a remarkable job of conveying how it might have felt to stand in the same room with these people. Lyndon Johnson scared the crap out of me three different times in the same room…he is a tall man with an uncanny resemblance to my father at first glance.

LBJ Closeup

After the Presidents, there are rooms paying homage to civil rights leaders (Rosa Parks is one of the only subjects portrayed sitting), historical figures, and sports legends. Despite the kitschy reputation of the wax museums, MTs provided a history lesson on par with many of the Smithsonian museum.

Next came the stars…what Madame Tussaud’s is best known for. It was an eclectic mix from Brittany Spears literally hanging upside down on a pole to creepy Tom Cruise to, my personal favorite, Johnny Depp. I didn’t want to invade Johnny’s space (I’ve heard he’s very private) so chose Larry King and Marion Barry for photo ops. Not the sexiest men in the place, but very lifelike nonetheless.

Mr. Depp

Hangin' with Larry