BOOP! THE MUSICAL Reviews

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 8:54pm

A non-(or less) crazy thread.

4 stars from Time Out

Boop! The Musical

4 out of 5 stars

Jasmine Amy Rogers paints the town red in a bright and bubbly new musical.

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/boop-the-musical-broadway-review-betty-boop-jasmine-amy-rogers

"if Boop!, like Mitchell’s 2013’s Kinky Boots, feels like a synthesis of many other shows, it also, like Kinky Boots, accomplishes that synthesis well. This musical will not change your brain in any way, but it delivers what it promises: a big Broadway production that leaves you grinning, and a star performer with the poise, charm and chops to make you believe that what the world needs now might be, of all things, a little more Betty Boop. That may or may not be real, but what fun it is to escape for a while into the alternate dimension of The Jasmine Amy Rogers Follies."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 8:59pm

NY Stage Review:

BOOP!: BOOP-OOP-A-DOOP!

By Frank Scheck

★★★★☆ Jasmine Amy Rogers adorably brings the venerable cartoon character to life in this Broadway musical directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell.

https://nystagereview.com/2025/04/07/boop-boop-oop-a-doop/

 

BOOP!: BETTY BRIGHTENS BROADWAY, BUT….

By Bob Verini

★★★☆☆ Betty Boop flies out of B&W cartoons into today’s living color, with glittery star quality but a saggy story

https://nystagereview.com/2025/04/07/boop-betty-brightens-broadway-but/

 

 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:01pm

Green in NYT 

‘Boop! The Musical’ Review: Betty Gets a Brand Extension

The It girl with the spit curl looks great for 100, but her Broadway musical, which feels like one big merch grab, is boop-boop-a-don’t.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/theater/boop-the-musical-review-broadway.html

"“Boop! The Musical” — now playing at the Broadhurst Theater, in a production directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell — is a “why?” show par excellence.

And excellence it has. As Betty, the flapper of early talkie cartoons, Jasmine Amy Rogers is immensely likable. She sings fabulously, sports a credible perma-smile, nails all the Boop mannerisms and has a fetching way with a tossed-off line. I can’t imagine anyone making more of the exhausting opportunity, let alone in a Broadway debut."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:02pm

Variety:

‘Boop!’ Review: This Cartoon of a Broadway Musical is Stuck in Two Dimensions

https://variety.com/2025/legit/reviews/boop-review-broadway-musical-1236361705/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:03pm

AMNY:

Review | ‘Boop! The Musical’: Boop-Oop-a-Don’t

https://www.amny.com/entertainment/broadway/boop-the-musical-boop-oop-a-dont/

"Jasmine Amy Rogers plays Betty in stylized, exaggerated fashion — full of baby-voiced catchphrases and cartoonish mannerisms. She’s committed and cute, but understandably cannot replicate the surreal proportions and charisma of her animated counterpart. So when New Yorkers instantly recognize her as the real Betty Boop, it’s unconvincing.

The book by Bob Martin (“The Drowsy Chaperone”) attempts to reframe Betty as a modern feminist figure, but the messaging is muddled and superficial. The plot is thin, the pacing sluggish, and the emotional arc barely registers. There are scattered references to cartoon lore — including Betty’s early days as a dog — and jazz greats like Cab Calloway, but they land as shallow nods."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:04pm

Theatrely

BOOP! THE MUSICAL: Betty Lands on Broadway and Broadway Gains a Star — Review

https://www.theatrely.com/post/boop-the-musical-betty-lands-on-broadway-and-broadway-gains-a-star-review

"If you’ve never actually seen a Betty Boop short film – and, despite her ubiquity on tattooed biceps, it’s likely – you’re in for a treat. Like all the best early 20th century works tragically and systematically erased from our cultural memory, she’s bright, effervescent, relentlessly charming and sexy. Pretty much the same can be said about Boop! The Musical, which just opened at the Broadhurst, but especially about Jasmine Amy Rogers, the instant star imbuing each of the cartoon’s iconic curls with larger-than-life charisma."

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:04pm

Theatremania is positive: "one of the feel-good musicals of the year."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:06pm

The Wrap

‘Boop!’ Broadway Review: First Barbie, Now Betty Gets Dragged Into the 21 Century

It’s “boop-oop-a-doop” for a musical that needs a good spritz of Pooph

https://www.thewrap.com/boop-the-musical-broadway-review-david-foster/

"

Foster and lyricist Susan Birkenhead load “Boop!” with so many anthems they appear to be auditioning for some new “I Love NY” ad campaign. As for Foster’s tunes, you will leave the Broadhurst humming them, because you’ve heard them all before, whether it is caterwauling gospel or anemic jazz or the ubiquitous female power ballad.

It is questionable whether anyone involved with this musical ever watched a Betty Boop cartoon. Birkenhead’s lyrics describe the newly neutered character on stage: “She is strong, she is smart, open mind, open heart” … and later, “She has spunk, she has spine, she’s a saint.”

Sorry, Betty Boop was one hot number. Where’s the part about her being a great lay? That’s why all those barnyard critters were chasing her around the hayloft. No less an entity than the Hays Office censored Betty Boop back in 1935, making her a far more demure and less sexy character. “Boop!” has clearly taken its orders from a Depression-era right-wing censor.

Playing Betty, Jasmine Amy Rogers isn’t given much to do other than squeal cutely. There’s a reason for her new blandness, and that’s because Betty, like Barbie before her, is now a feminist. "

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:07pm

Slant

‘Boop! The Musical’ Review: A Maximalist Goof-Fest with a Century-Long Backstory

Boop! earns the confetti cannon that goes off in the show’s final moments.

https://www.slantmagazine.com/theater/boop-the-musical-review/

"even if Boop! delivers a low-key #DeepMessage, it’s mainly just a rollicking good time that earns the confetti cannon that goes off in the show’s final moments. Director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell’s exorbitantly exuberant production numbers fuse old-school tap excess with a bit of hip-hop fluidity. Finn Ross’s projections design playfully incorporate glimpses of the original Boop animation throughout David Rockwell’s set. And for its sense of childlike wonder and whimsy, Gregg Barnes’s show-stopping costume designs for the second-act opener, in which half-black-and-white, half-color outfits allow the ensemble to swap between ToonTown and the real world from beat to beat, ought to melt the hearts of even the steeliest theater critics.

Grammy-winning producer and composer David Foster pens amiable pop-jazz bops that are nimbly orchestrated by Doug Besterman, even if some of the arrangements go over the top: Betty’s opening ballad, for one, thunders disproportionately, suggesting one of Norma Desmond’s arias from Sunset Boulevard. But those songs are sold at a profit by the gumptious Rogers, who makes sense of Betty simultaneously being a pen-and-ink creation and a flesh-and-blood woman, melding the bygone wide-eyed soubrette with the contemporary, street-smart rabble-rouser. And Rogers movingly converts Betty’s voice from the cutesy cartoon sound to a full-throated belt as she figures out who she is and what she wants."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:09pm

Chicago Tribune/NY Daily News

 

Review: ‘Boop! The Musical’ opens on Broadway as a retro song-and-dance celebration of the cartoon

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/07/review-boop-the-musical-broadway/

"Vastly improved from its Chicago tryout — Mitchell being a master of the dogged retrofit — “Boop!” is now a stellar little showcase for its ascendant young star, Jasmine Amy Rogers, who does not let playing a literal cartoon character get in the way of a fully fleshed out performance, as sweet and vulnerable as it is determined and resolute."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:10pm

Daily Beast

Review: ‘Boop! The Musical’ Should Turn Betty Boop Into the New Barbie

BOOP-OOP-A-DOOP

“Boop! The Musical” borrows from “Barbie” and “The Wizard of Oz,” takes on #MeToo Baddies and Eric Adams, and brings a show-stopping rainbow of joy to Broadway.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/review-boop-the-musical-should-turn-betty-boop-into-the-new-barbie/

" the show features none of the name-recognition star-power of its award-vying neighbors. Jasmine Amy Rogers, in an impressively assured Broadway debut, is playing Betty.

Yet you will likely have more fun at Boop! than in many other theaters this spring; this is an old-fashioned stage-frolic filled show, with big songs and bigger dancing, including roof-raising numbers overseen by director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell, with the company tap-dancing and high-kicking in perfect rows of synchronized movement. If you desire sheer escapism—and I can’t imagine why, the world being just peachy right now—this show is for you. It goes on far too long (at least half an hour could be cut), but—just wait for the finale!—you even forgive it that."

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:11pm

Sorry, Betty Boop was one hot number. Where’s the part about her being a great lay? That’s why all those barnyard critters were chasing her around the hayloft. No less an entity than the Hays Office censored Betty Boop back in 1935, making her a far more demure and less sexy character. “Boop!” has clearly taken its orders from a Depression-era right-wing censor.

Playing Betty, Jasmine Amy Rogers isn’t given much to do other than squeal cutely. There’s a reason for her new blandness, and that’s because Betty, like Barbie before her, is now a feminist. ""

So the critic for The Wrap was looking for more bestiality and less empowerment for women?

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:12pm

Knowing Hofler...yes.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:13pm

Well, I'll be. Even the NYP/Oleksinski is positive!

‘Boop’ review: A Broadway star is born in new musical

Three stars

https://nypost.com/2025/04/07/entertainment/boop-review-broadway-star-jasmine-amy-rogers-is-born-in-new-musical/

"H​ow refreshing to see, during this depressing season marred by A-list celebrities underdelivering for big bucks, a bona fide new stage star hoofing and belting with the best of ‘em.

Most impressively for the newcomer, she’s ​h​anded the tricky task of bringing to life a silly​ and largely irrelevant cultural icon — the 1930s cartoon character Betty Boop — and ​t​urning the flirty Jazz Age creation​ into a relatable human.

Rogers does​ just that, with a wink, sublime voice and a​n infectious spirit."

[Ensemble1698878795]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:14pm

Jasmine is the front runner for the Tony this year. She's carrying this show on her shoulders. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:14pm

Green’s review pisses me off. 

Yes, the book is flimsy, but there are corporate overlords and intellectual property everywhere you look. This one hardly feels more egregious than others.

Glad he liked the score and JAR.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:18pm

Wow. NY Sun 

A 1930s Cartoon Character, Betty Boop, Comes to Life as Broadway’s Most Compelling Musical Comedy Heroine in Decades

Credit the show’s librettist, Bob Martin, and the director and choreographer, Jerry Mitchell, whose many celebrated credits include ‘Kinky Boots’ and ‘Legally Blonde.’

https://www.nysun.com/article/a-1930s-cartoon-character-betty-boop-comes-to-life-as-broadways-most-compelling-musical-comedy-heroine-in-decades

[Robbie2]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:18pm

Ensemble1698878795 said: "Jasmine is the front runner for the Tony this year. She's carrying this show on her shoulders."

She's secured a TONY nomination with these rave reviews but not the front runner as we have Nicole, Audra and now Jasmine as the top 3 nominees!

Updated On: 4/7/25 at 09:18 PM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:18pm

MemorableUserName said: "AMNY:

She’s committed and cute, but understandably cannot replicate the surreal proportions and charisma of her animated counterpart. So when New Yorkers instantly recognize her as the real Betty Boop, it’s unconvincing."

This part from the AMNY review is why I can NEVER take anything Matt Windman says seriously. Really? You can't believe that characters in this FICTIONAL WORLD recognize ANOTHER FICTIONAL CHARACTER because her "proportions" are wrong? First of all, I don't think that's even true. Second of all, since when do we throw away the concept of suspension of disbelief? Why are you even reviewing musical theater if that concept isn't something you can fathom? What an asinine take. Like I get it if the show isn't your cup of tea, but that criticism is just insane.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:19pm

Ensemble1698878795 said: "Jasmine is the front runner for the Tony this year. She's carrying this show on her shoulders."

The frontrunner?!

Audra and Nicole would like a word 

[KarenValentine'sheadband]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:19pm

So far 5 thumbs up and 2 down. 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:25pm

As we wait for the stragglers (Deadline, Vulture, EW, WSJ, etc.) a request on behalf of those who have a certain person blocked: when they inevitably show up, please don't respond to them, and if you must, please don't quote them. It makes it so much nicer for everyone else.

Updated On: 4/7/25 at 09:25 PM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:28pm

Mr. Wormwood said: "Audra and Nicole would like a word"

To be honest with you, Jasmine would have my vote. I don't think it's that far-fetched to think she could win, especially if people are split on Audra and Nicole.

[Ensemble1698878795]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:29pm

Robbie2 said: "Ensemble1698878795 said: "Jasmine is the front runner for the Tony this year. She's carrying this show on her shoulders."

She's secured a TONY nomination with these rave reviews but notthe front runner as wehave Nicole, Audra and now Jasmine as the top 3 nominees!"

Who won the Tony last year? Maleah JoI Moon, new blood. Audra and Nicole will most likely split the votes. I'll rephrase, Jasmine deserves the Tony. 

[Kad]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 9:30pm

Jesse Green has really become a weird fusion of Ben Brantley and Charles Isherwood.