BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical - Pre-Broadway Chicago — Page 11

I caught this show this past Friday and really went in with no expectations...and I was thoroughly charmed with this whole production. Yes, it has book issues, especially in the second act, but I didn't care. Jerry Mitchell knows how to stage a big production number and there are quite a few in this, and that is when the show just soars. I also agree with everyone here, Jasmine Amy Rogers is giving a "star is born" performance and not just in her singing and dancing, but in her whole performance. She makes a Betty a much more fleshed out character, then some of the writing may suggest. Also how she keeps that "Betty Voice" going for 2 hours I don't know. I think the biggest surprise was David Foster's score, which was incredibly strong, it's been a long time since I left a musical with that many earworms stuck in my head, I look forward to hearing it again. I think with some major book changes especially in the second act, there could be quite a hit here.

Ahead of the Press Opening on December 6, Tuesday night's show had an insert added to the Playbill. Though the CAST is the same, the roles of Director, Assistant Director, Malcolm Carter (a news reporter), Cheryl King (a news anchor), and the 3 featured Mascots have been added.

The revised song list is included, too, on the same one-sided insert. SHE KNOCKS ME OUT is the third number in Act 2, and the closer is COLOR OF LOVE. Both numbers were added late last week.

The biggest change of the evening was the top of Act 2. The round "dance atop" discs have been removed from SHE'S HERE, and the video backwall has changed from busy text messages to the New York skyline, bathed in searchlights. A great improvement! There is now much more focus on the Ensemble instead of the text message wall.

The number is shortened as well. The intricate sharing of the discs between the 5 yesteryear characters and the modern day 10 colorful characters has been removed. The black and white newspaper backdrop is gone. Boop no longer appears atop the tiny stairs. The gray street barricade has been tossed out entirely.

The 5 yesteryear characters sing a short reprise of GET HER BACK, yet as WE WANT HER BACK.

Two small changes appear near the top of the show: the Fleischer Studios logo that pops up during the overture has added 7 studio characters above its name. In one of the shorts, 4 Ensemble women don garrison caps before changing into top hats.

Lighting changes: when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and other characters trade spots with the Black and White Ensemble, the top-of-the-proscenium frames of the studio cartoons change color. When the slimy Raymond Demarest sings atop his office desk, the auditorium is awash with soft white, kaleidoscope-type movement.

The Director has a new line: "we're ready for your close-up" replaces "stop repeating me". At the Finale, the Director and Assistant Director sing their brief duet in Black and White, but the Ensemble then helps the duo with a quick change into color.

Three technical hiccups - got it out of their system before opening - creeped into Tuesday's performance.

At the end of the full-stage I SPEAK JAZZ dance, the green walls of the dining room did not float back into the scene. These same walls transform into Trisha's bedroom. Her wall paintings were absent for a bit until the 2 screens gently lowered into view. The NY skyline briefly flickered.

KUDOS to the cast and crew - the show did not slow down nor stop for any of the hiccups. Another blip of the night was a few seconds of no microphone for Valentina at the tail end of A CURE FOR LOVE.

Early on, when Boop grabs a seat in Grampy's teleporting marvel, the backwall video of a collapsing fadeout began its change a few beats early, and the usual explosion of carbon dioxide was fully absent. Everyone saw Betty's removal from the chair.

Updated On: 12/6/23 at 01:20 AM

https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/ct-ent-boop-musical-chicago-review-20231207-il5ulvagu5awzhoi3t4nx7z5gy-story.html


Given that she is playing a baby-faced, anatomically impossible cartoon character known mostly for a wink, a center-parted coiffure and a five-word catchphrase, the relative unknown Jasmine Amy Rogers turns in an astonishingly fleshed-out performance at the heart of “Boop! the Musical,” which opened its pre-Broadway tryout a the CIBC Theatre in Chicago on Wednesday before an audience that included singer Katharine McPhee and, more improbably, Bill Gates. Boop-oop-a-doop!

Rogers will be a shining new star as Betty Boop in the latest show directed by Jerry Mitchell, the fifth highly polished musical this maestro has opened before Broadway in this city and a modestly scaled, family-oriented show wherein there is a great deal to like, and much more work still to be done, especially in the wildly uneven Act 2.

Rogers, though, already is the complete Broadway package: a stellar vocalist for the lush score by David Foster and Susan Birkenhead, a subtle comedic natural when it comes to Bob Martin’s book and, above all, a warm-centered and vulnerable performer who humanizes the central character in a show that has yet to sufficiently surround her with sufficient truth for this director and choreographer’s signature emotional trajectory to achieve all it could. Mitchell is a talent scout of formidable talent and Rogers is a discovery neither he or Broadway will soon forget.

Sounds like it's going into the Broadway - that's the rumor.

The review is in line with what we all said. Star turn, decent music, fine/pedestrian staging, and a wonky book.

Yeah, I think the Barrymore would be perfect. I was going into it thinking it was this huge show, but it's pretty small for a large musical.

I'm kind of hoping Boop waits to transfer next season... or am I alone on that? lol.

It's already a crowded season for new musicals. And the Broadway would have to be transformed back to it original form.

Another change I noticed last night that was different from earlier viewings, the second “umbrella” was absent and they just used the first “umbrella” in its place.

Maybe a summer opening? I don't see this being a favorite of the Tony's anyway. Pretty Woman opened in the summer and had a good year on Broadway. But they'll probably open whenever the theatre they want becomes available. I thought Old Friends was going into the Broadway Theatre.

I agree. I think if they can tinker with the book and make some tweaks it'll get some Tony noms for lead and score for sure.

I'm sure the creative team are reading the reviews

Here’s a pretty detailed review from the Chicago Sun Times - it’s really positive overall but says that the plot is a mess and if they can work on that it could be a hit.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/12/7/23992246/boop-review-betty-musical-chicago-cibc-theatre-jasmine-amy-rogers-jerry-mitchell

Beginning of review:

“Here’s what doesn’t need to change about “Boop!,” the new musical getting its pre-Broadway tryout at Chicago’s CIBC Theatre this month:

• A single step of director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell’s spectacular footwork.
• A single note in David Foster’s score.
• The gorgeous gray-scale cartoon world that shimmers like silk as it unspools on stage with lush, cinematic detail.

Under Mitchell’s occasionally frenetic direction, “Boop!” offers a lovingly detailed homage to cartoonist Max Fleischer’s iconic pin-curled, squeaky-voiced creation Betty Boop, as well as one spectacular number after another.”

End of review:

“Wresting a viable musical from a two-dimensional character whose work peaked in the 1930s is a mighty challenge. Mitchell is part of the way there. “Boop!” looks and sounds great. If its creators can come up with a plot that’s more focused and supporting characters with more depth than, well, cartoons, they just might have a hit.”

Updated On: 12/7/23 at 05:44 PM

Easier to fix a flawed book when the rest of the show is nearly perfect, than to have to scrap almost everything just to have Jerry come in and do it right (looking at you, Devil Wears Prada). By the way, in my opinion the score for Boop! is far superior to DWP. And I have a feeling Elton won’t be to invested in fixing that.