Some of the information is Boop-Oop-a-Dooping full of SPOILERS. Boop-Oop-a-Doop!
Boop the Musical
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Boop! |
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Boop! The Betty Boop-a-Doosical |
Boop! The Musical is a LGBTQIA+ musical. It is the complete Broadway adaption of the Betty Boop Musical that has been in the works for years. Its first Pre-Broadway Engagement will be in Chicago from the 19th of November to the 24th of December, 2023.
Set in New York City, the iconic Betty Boop sings a new toon on stage. The musical is directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, with music by David Foster, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead and book by Bob Martin.
The musical about a young girl on a journey to find something that is missing.[2] Betty possesses everything. But she can't quite put her finger on what's lacking. Grampy builds a device that transports Betty from the realm of black and white to the vibrant modern world, where her tale of love is told. Will she remain, though? Will she go, or not?
Broadway in Chicago ticket renewals were available by visiting the Broadway In Chicago website.
In September, the musical's cast was revealed. Since then, the cast have rehearsing for the show. It was announced that Daryl M. Waters the arranger for the reboot of Shuffle Along does the musical supervision and arrangements for Boop! the Musical.
"Dozens of performers have portrayed Betty Boop in voice or image since she first appeared. Is the show an homage to the many artists in her family lineage?" asked by an interviewer to Jerry Mitchell on November 15th.
"Though I believe people will make those connections and find those reference points, none were specifically intended," Mitchell responded. "I went hunting for the character in the written text and figured out how to best portray that character, which is how I came up with what's in the show."
The query to this answer is that the "original voices or women who currently voice or have voiced Betty Boop" in the past are not the source material for this Betty. Jasmine Rogers confirmed this by stating that she preferred to start the role of Betty from scratch, and put her mark on it.
The full schedules for the show in Chicago were made available to the general public.[3]
David Foster revealed that the show would follow up with a Broadway premiere in New York. The show is consistently being upgraded. Additionally, they use feedback from show attendees to make improvements to the production. New songs will be added for the New York debut. For "Act 2" they are going to strengthen the relationship between the main characters.
The show debuted in mid-2025.
Quotes
- Betty Boop: "You are capable of amazing things!"
- Trisha: "People see what I see, Betty Boop."
- Valentina: "It's like a little sheep, tied to your face."
- Carol: "Carol for Mayor!"
- Betty Boop: "Oh, gee. I don't know. I feel kinda shy."
- Dwayne: "The whole city is a cartoon, everything is a cartoon."
Characters
Cast
Betty Boop:
Betty is Confident, curious, whip-smart, open-hearted, and bold. Searching for what's real and what's right. A very talented comic and jazz singer with immeasurable star quality, and a very good dancer.
- Jasmine Amy Rogers as Betty Boop (CIBC Theatre in Chicago)
- Gigi Hadid as Betty Boop (2014)
- Jessica Vosk as Betty Boop (2022)
- Kim Exum as Betty Boop (Betty's Day Off)
- Tristen Buettel (Understudy)
- Gabi Campo (Understudy)
Pudgy:
- Phillip Huber as Pudgy (CIBC Theatre in Chicago)
Grampy:
Grampy is a clever, brilliant, quirky inventor, but not scatter-brained. He is protective of his granddaughter Betty. He's in love with Valentina.
- Stephen DeRosa as Grampy (CIBC Theatre in Chicago)
- Stephen DeRosa as Grampy (Betty's Day Off)
Trisha:
Trisha is a talented visual artist and cosplayer with an open mind and a determination to help her family. A little shy, but empowered by Betty. Betty 's instant friend and is an orphan who lives with her aunt.
- Angelica Hale as Trisha (CIBC Theatre in Chicago)
- Angelica Hale as Trisha (Betty's Day Off)
- Jasmine Amy Rogers as Trisha (Workshop Sessions)
- Gabi Campo (Understudy)
- Sydney Jones (Understudy)
Dwayne:
Dwayne is a jazz musician and college student renting a room in Carol's brownstone. He is also Raymond's speech writer and Betty's new love interest.
- Ainsley Melham as Dwayne (CIBC Theatre in Chicago)
- James Olivas as Dwayne (Betty's Day Off)
- Derek Jordan (Understudy)
- Taylor and Josh Drake (Understudy)
Carol Evans:
Carol is a welcoming, generous owner of the Harlem brownstone where she lives with her daughter Trisha and her tenant Dwayne. She is Raymond's campaign manager. She is civic minded, and has a maternal presence.
- Anastacia McCleskey as Carol (CIBC Theatre in Chicago)
- Carla R. Stewart as Carol (Betty's Day Off)
- Courtney Arango (Understudy)
- Morgan McGhee (Understudy)
Valentina:
Valentina is astrophysicist, practical in every way and Grampy's equal in hyper-intelligence. She's madly in love with Grampy.
- Faith Prince as Valentina (CIBC Theatre in Chicago)
- Ryah Nixon as Valentina (CIBC Theatre in Chicago)
- Cady Huffman as Valentina (Betty's Day Off)
- Ryah Nixon (Understudy)
- Courtney Arango (Understudy)
Raymond Demarest:
Raymond is a slick mayoral candidate. There's a slight air of corruption about him.
- Erich Bergen as Raymond (CIBC Theatre in Chicago)
- Andy Karl as Raymond (Betty's Day Off)
- Josh Drake (Understudy)
- Colin Bradbury (Understudy)
The Director:
The Director is a minor character in the show.
Crew
- David Foster (Music)
- Jerry Mitchell (Director & Choreographer)
- Susan Birkenhead (Lyrics)
- Bob Martin (Writer)
- Tara Rubin Casting (Casting Director)
- Felicia Rudolph (Casting Director)
- Kevin Metzger-Timson (Casting Director)
- Foresight Theatrical (General Manager)
- April Grier (Casting Assistant)
- Pal Joey (Casting Director)
- Ostar Productions (Producer)
- Jon Rua (Associate Choreographer)
- Rachelle Rak (Associate Choreographer)
- David Rockwell (Set Design)
- Gregg Barnes (Costumes)
- Philip S. Rosenberg (Lighting)
- Gareth Owen (Sound)
- Daryl Waters (Musical Supervision & Arrangements)
- Lawrence Alexander (Ensemble)
- Tristen Buettel (Ensemble)
- Colin Bradbury (Ensemble)
- Joshua Michael Burrage (Ensemble)
- Gabi Campo (Ensemble)
- Rebecca Corrigan (Ensemble)
- Daniel Castiglione (Ensemble)
- Josh Drake (Ensemble)
- RJ Higton (Ensemble)
- Nina Lafarga (Ensemble)
- Morgan McGhee (Ensemble)
- Aubie Merrylees (Ensemble)
- Ryah Nixon (Ensemble)
- Ricky A. Schroeder (Ensemble)
- Gabriella Sorrentino (Ensemble)
- Brooke Taylor (Ensemble)
- Christian Probst (Ensemble)
- Courtney Arango (Understudy / Ensemble)
- Ian Gallagher Fitzgerald (Understudy / Ensemble)
- Sydney Jones (Understudy / Ensemble)
- Derek Jordan Taylor (Understudy / Ensemble)
- Amy Van Nostrand (Understudy / Ensemble)
Music
- "Where I Wanna Be"
- "Always"
- "Say You Remember It"
- "Something to Shout About"
- "A Little Versatility"
- "Why Look Around The Corner?"
- "My New York"
- "A Cure For Love"
- "She's Here"
- "Win with Betty"
- "My Hero"
- "Together, You and Me"
- "Take it to the Next Level"
- "The Campaign"
- "She Knocks Me Out"
- "I Speak Jazz"
- "When You're In Love Everything Turns to Color"
- "Color of Love"
Gallery
Trivia
- When "Boop!" was reviewed by fans, Trisha was voted the most popular character, surpassing Betty.
- The original date it was supposed to end on was the 31st of December, 2023.
- The "Betty Boop Animated Talking Collector Phone" that featured the voice of Melissa Fahn as Betty Boop which was released in 2005 was featured in the sizzle reel.
- It appears as though other "prominent characters" from the series don't exist, and Betty's decision to dump the majority of her pals is never fully addressed.
- The producers claim that this Betty is based on no one, however to create Jasmine Rogers' look for her Betty Boop, the make-up artists drew inspiration from Josephine Baker, Janet Jackson, Devon Aoki, Theda Bara, Dorothy Dandridge and Caucasian cartoon flapper girls.
- 45 songs were written in total, 17 lasted. Three new songs were written in December of 2023 for the Chicago debut.
- On the 13th's of December it was announced that the musical partnered with M·A·C Cosmetics for M·A·C's Cherry Lip Pencil & Ruby Woo Matte.
- Some writers were dismissed, new writers were hired, a new director came in. Three novels were written. Old songs were changed, and new ones were composed to take their place.
- "Why Look Around The Corner When It's All Right Here" was the original song written for the original show, and it stayed with the project until the debut.
- The "bouncing ball" is reference to the old Fleischer Screen Songs.
- Betty frequently brings up the joke that she was once a dog.
- Rapper Ice Spice got a special invitation to meet the Boop! cast and crew in December 2023.
- Boop! merchandise is also sold at the theatre, t-shirts, mugs, posters. You can also buy licensed Betty Boop drinks, Betty Boop Refresher Mocktail and Betty Boop Refresher Cocktail.
- Koko the Clown and Bimbo were in the earlier concepts, but were later cut, they appear in the artworks.
- In this musical, Betty doesn't go overboard with her "Boop-Oop-a-Doop" performance. It has a designated use.
- According to information given, the character "Betty Boop" in this Broadway show is reinvented, she has been reimagined. It is possible that she could be a little different in character personality to the "original" Betty Boop that appeared in the Fleischer cartoons. This is more or less to make her appeal to a younger demographic. However the information cited on the official Broadway websites, is that both young and old alike will enjoy this brand new adaption of Betty.
- The Pre-Broadway premiere in Chicago is a try-out, a test.
- According to Rachelle Rak, if the show is unsuccessful at its Chicago debut, it won't tour and could possibly close.
- "Toon" is a reference to Betty being a cartoon character. Toon actually means tune, a melody, which is a musical piece.
- The audition date was Friday, March 17, 2023 and Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at Pearl Studios. Submissions was accepted until 6:00 PM ET on March 17th. Any videos submitted after the deadline was not viewed.
- The first rehearsal is in New York City on September 25, 2023, and first performance November 19, 2023. Closing is December 31, 2023.
- During a 2022 Carnegie Hall concert, Jessica Vosk told the audience that she was working on Boop! and hinted that she was going to star as Betty Boop, during the concert she also sang a song from this musical.
- Long before the musical was reworked, G. H. was supposed to take on the role of Betty Boop. She initially "tweeted on Twitter directly to David Foster" responding, however later deleted her tweets indicating that she no longer is associated with the musical. Ms. H. was associated with the 2014 casting.
- According to David Foster's wife Katharine McPhee, demos for this musical were recorded by Shoshana Bean.
- Despite "thinking of auditioning" for the Betty Boop role, Katherine McPhee ultimately chose not to. Rather, she sings the show's theme song, "Something to Shout About" in the official music video. McPhee said in 2022, "I'm actually not playing Betty Boop but maybe today will be my audition for Betty Boop."
- A "Betty Boop Impersonator" from Universal Studios Orlando was hoping to audition. However the producers were only looking for Broadway talent, not Universal Studios character impersonators or look-a-likes. Coco Cohn, a Broadway star, and Betty Boop's voice expressed interest in the show as well.