2/27/2024 0 Comments A betty boop good morningAnother ballad was in and out of the show, off-and-on for more than a year. “I was told, be prepared to throw out your best song,” he said. “I just want to make good music,” said Foster, who composed about 45 songs for the show. For decades, the pop composer pursued and earned hit records, as evidenced by his 16 Grammy Awards and such chart-toppers as The Tubes' “She's a Beauty,” Chicago's “You're the Inspiration” and Boz Skaggs' “Look What You've Done to Me” (from the film “Urban Cowboy”), among others. While composing a musical poses challenges, Foster says it was a relief not to worry about composing a score that included a Top 40 hit. “Nobody ever asked me before,” admitted the composer, adding, “it's been quite a ride.” “Jerry Mitchell has had a clear vision of what he wants and he's followed through with lightning accuracy,” said Foster, who's penned and/or produced hits for Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Chicago, among others. “Your life is never full of color until your life is full of love,” he said, adding that at a time when hate and bile dominate, the show's message about love changing a person's life is one worth spreading. “If you don't have love, you don't have much, and it should be a priority of your life to find it: love of yourself, love of others and true love.” “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. 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.
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