Pop in to see your ‘Friends’
Celebrate the TV series’ anniversary.
NEW YORK – “Friends” fans know her best as Janice, the on-and-off-again girlfriend of Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) who can clear a room with her ear-splitting cackle and trademark “Oh. My. Gawd.”
But off screen, actress Maggie Wheeler sounds nothing like the obnoxious recurring character she portrayed for 10 seasons of the hit NBC sitcom, celebrating its 25th anniversary with an in- teractive pop-up exhibit, opening Sat- urday in New York.
“That is the most shocking thing to people – they just assume 24/7 that I sound like (her),” says Wheeler, playfully assuming Janice’s nasally voice. “Fans ask me all the time to say ‘Oh. My. Gawd.’
“Then they say, ‘Can you do the laugh?’ And I say, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. HA-HA-HA!’”
Wheeler is on hand to promote the “Friends” pop-up, cheekily titled, “The One with the Pop-up,” which runs through Oct. 6.
Tickets to the installation already are sold out, although fans who didn’t score them can visit the museum’s gift shop in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, featuring “Friends”-emblazoned denim baseball caps, Central Perk coffee cups and T-shirts featuring the central sixsome.
Oh, and if you loved the sunglasses sporting turkey worn by Monica (Courteney Cox) in the fan-favorite Season 5 episode “The One with All the Thanksgivings,” there are scores of items featuring its uncanny likeness, including Christmas-tree ornaments, tote bags, scarves and oven mitts.
More than 50 original props are on display in rooms dedicated to each of the main characters.
Among the highlights: five Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) wigs, including the iconic “The Rachel” haircut; Rachel’s reconciliation letter to Ross (David
Schwimmer) from Season 4 and his red sweater from Season 8; Phoebe’s (Lisa Kudrow) guitar and Smelly Cat cat litter; and headshots of soap star Joey (Matt LeBlanc) in a mock-up of his and Chandler’s apartment.
Photo ops are scattered throughout the museum: Fans can grab umbrellas and re-create the sitcom’s opening credits in front of a (fake) fountain.
The group’s go-to hangout, Central Perk, also is painstakingly brought to life, complete with the signature orange couch, and real pastries and coffee available for purchase.
Visiting the pop-up’s Central Perk was particularly special for James Michael Taylor, who played the coffee shop’s sardonic manager, Gunther.
He believes “Friends” has endured because “it’s nostalgic and the characters are relatable. Everyone knows a Rachel, a Phoebe and a Gunther, perhaps,” Taylor says.
And thanks to the series’ popularity on Netflix, “I meet fans who say, ‘I watch the show because it was my mom’s favorite show.’ It’s astounding and very humbling. I feel very fortunate to have been a minor part of such an iconic TV show.”
For more information about “The One with the Pop-up” experience, visit friends 25 popup.com.