“The focus of the show is love,” he said. On a day off, she winds up in New York City, awash in color, Mitchell said.ĭescribing the character as strong, sexy and independent, Mitchell says hers is not the typical female empowerment story. Enter Tony-winning writer Bob Martin (“The Drowsy Chaperone”), who began working with Mitchell on the story, which begins at Max Fleischer's studio, where Boop is a big star in a black-and-white world. “I was ecstatic.”īut they needed a story. That was enough to convince Mitchell the show had potential. What they had was several songs from Grammy Award-winning composer David Foster and Tony-nominated lyricist Susan Birkenhead. When producers first approached Mitchell about helming a Betty Boop-centered musical, they had no story. As for Rogers, she has complete faith in Mitchell's vision for the show, which he has been a part of since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Mitchell, the Tony Award-winning choreographer of “Kinky Boots” and “La Cage aux Folles,” liked what he saw. fully assured that this is something I can do,” said Rogers, who played Gretchen Wieners in the national tour of “Mean Girls.” “At the last audition, I did that.” “Own the room,” associate director DB Bonds advised her before her audition. Featured in more than 100 animated theatrical releases, the Jazz Era flapper also appeared in comic strips and has long been a favorite of mass merchandisers. ![]() “It feels like kismet that I get to play her,” Rogers said.īut before she could fulfill her destiny, she had to convince director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell she was right for the part of Betty Boop, a sexy, spit-curled cartoon character pioneering animator Max Fleischer introduced in 1930. “I still have a Boop nightgown I wear to this day.” “I carried it around with me for the rest of the vacation,” she recalled. 24 at Chicago's CIBC Theatre.Īt an amusement park during a family vacation, Rogers begged her mother for a Betty Boop doll. My mother grew up with Betty Boop,” said the 24-year-old who stars in the premiere playing through Dec. Then came the Broadway-bound “Boop! The Betty Boop Musical” and a role Rogers was destined to play. But the actress always thought it would be as a voice artist. Her mother told her and her brother as much when they were children. Jasmine Amy Rogers always knew that someday she would be a cartoon character. "There's a really beautiful story here, and a beautiful show and I hope people embrace it," Mitchell said.Jasmine Amy Rogers stars as the titular 1930s cartoon icon in “Boop! The Betty Boop Musical,” featuring music by David Foster, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead and a book by Bob Martin. "BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical" is now playing at the CIBC Theatre through December 24th, and then it's on to Broadway in New York City. They come in and they know when they're seeing, something that's well done." ![]() they're wise, they're smart, you can't fool them. The audiences see a lot of theater in this town. "So it's an import crucial step in creating a new musical. "I love coming here, I love getting the response from the audience and the critics, and then we keep working to hone the show to take it back to New York and open it on Broadway," Mitchell said. Mitchell talked about the process of creating a unique story from scratch for such an iconic character. "In Betty Boop's black-and-white world, we tap dance, but when she comes to New York City and hits Times Square, there's a little tap, but there's also hip hop and there's jazz, so the three styles of dance converge in Times Square where everything is a melting pot." ![]() "I wanted to tell this story because I think the world is full of so much cynicism right now, and this is a story about the only thing that matters in life ,and that's love," Mitchell said.
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