BOOP! The Musical
The show opens with Betty (Jasmine Amy Rogers) obscured by cardboard cutouts depicting the iconic cartoon character, the background LED screens depicting the cartoon world all too familiar to us. Soon revealed in silver sequined glory to a full cast tap number as though were already at intermission. With a boop!
As the opening number fades we find ourselves in the cartoon world of Betty Boop (Jasmine Amy Rogers) – complete with the iconic voice, sensual form, and alluring charisma. She’s where we’d expect her to be: on a movie set filming another of her shorts where every costume, prop, and character exists in an exclusively black and white palette. As filming wraps, she’s interviewed by a reporter asking, “Who is the real Betty Boop?” And we’re suddenly thrust into the conflict: who is Betty Boop? She doesn’t know.
Returning home to ponder, she is visited by Grampy (Stephen DeRosa), Betty’s cheerful, eccentric inventor grandfather and Pudgy, her adorable white puppy, brought to life by puppeteer Phillip Huber. Grampy is portrayed wonderfully – a heart warming mixture between the Wizard from Wicked and Doc Brown from Back to the Future. Like Doc, he’s created a machine to travel not through time, but the Real World. Ceasing the opportunity to find a world where she isn’t the center of attention and discover herself she distracts Grampy with a lullaby and blasts off!
When she awakes, Betty finds herself in the halls of New York Comic Con. Brought to her feet by Dwayne (Ainsley Melham), a blue-eyed man dressed in blue, and seeing and feeling color for the first time! Each character and color vibrates causing Betty to burst with emotion: from Pikachu to the Scarlet Witch. Until she stumbles upon … her! A young Betty Boop fan named Trisha (Angelica Hale). Desperate to maintain anonymity, she introduces herself as “Betsy”, and captivated by her “costume,” offers to show her around the city.
Meanwhile, back in the cartoon world, things are beginning to crumble. The world literally revolved around her but she’s nowhere to be found. The filming crews have nothing to film and the people frantically search to find her. It’s then that Grampy decides to travel back to the Real World to find her.
When we arrive at Trisha’s house, we meet her mother Carol Evans (Anastacia McCleskey), a PR consultant for a rising mayoral candidate, previously notable garbage collector, Raymond Demarest (Erich Bergen). In addition, we again find Dwayne — who we learn is more half brother, half father to Trisha – and he shares his love of the trumpet, and more particularly jazz – sparking his captivating number “I Speak Jazz!”
As Betty and Trisha become more acquainted, we learn Trisha loves Betty Boop for all the characteristics she feels she lacks: her charm, independence, and charisma. Feeling vulnerable, Betty confides in Trisha the truth: she is Betty Boop! Sworn to secrecy, but feeling elated, Trisha sets up Betty on a date with Dwayne. When they arrive at a famous jazz club, where he longs to play in the house band, Betty gets a bit tipsy and is invited to perform. The show-stopping number “Where I Wanna Be” properly tears down the house and the fact that Betsy is indeed Betty becomes undeniable and word spreads around the world!
Capitalizing on her new found fame, Carol’s candidate Raymond, ceases the opportunity to promote his campaign. There, he and Betty are shown on local media. Then, behind closed doors, Raymond makes advances, akin to the tropes of cartoons, which of course are greeted with rebuke. But, fortunately, with the press coverage, Grampy can find her! And with the help of his former lover Valentina (Faith Price), from 40 years ago, they hatch a plan.
As the show concludes, a delightful series of conclusions are reached: Trisha finds the qualities she valued in Betty do indeed live within her and she’s admitted to art school, Raymond loses the election to none other than Carol, Valentina and Grumpy rekindle their love, and Betty returns to the cartoon world…
… with Dwayne following just in tow. Ready to explore a potential relationship with Betty.
Overall, this musical has a delightful big band inspired soundtrack, with bubbly characters from two different worlds, will leave you appreciating the all too familiar character of Betty Boop. You’ll walk away feeling happy, with a pep in your step, but perhaps without the specific lyrics in your head.
My prediction is that Boop will be a strong contender for Best Costumes at this year's Tony Awards.