Theater overview
BOOP
Two hours and half-hour, with one intermission. On the Broadhurst Theatre, 235 West forty fourth Road.
She could also be taking part in a two-dimensional character, however she’s one heck of a triple menace.
That’s Jasmine Amy Rogers, the 25-year-old actress who’s making a wonderful Broadway debut in “Boop,” the musical comedy on the Broadhurst Theatre.
How refreshing to see, throughout this miserable season marred by A-list celebrities underdelivering for large bucks, a bona fide new stage star hoofing and belting with the most effective of ‘em.
Most impressively for the newcomer, she’s handed the tough activity of bringing to life a foolish and largely irrelevant cultural icon — the Thirties cartoon character Betty Boop — and turning the flirty Jazz Age creation right into a relatable human.
Rogers does simply that, with a wink, chic voice and an infectious spirit.
“Boop,” a enjoyable if not improbable musical with a fizzy rating by David Foster and Susan Birkenhead, provides Betty the “Elf” and “Barbie” remedy by tossing the speaking trademark into the tough actual world.
Itching to flee her black-and-white, easy existence with Pudgy the canine in a home that appears like a monochrome “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” the curly singer and film starlet makes use of one among wacky Grampy’s (Stephen DeRosa) innovations to journey to 2025 Manhattan.
When she lands, amusingly at Comedian Con on the Javits Middle, she goes from Kansas to Oz. Vivid pops of colour dance across the stage and Betty meets a distinct sort of larger-than-life person within the 5 boroughs.
New York, Betty observes, “looks like a cartoon.”
She quickly falls for a trumpeter named Dwayne (the silky-voiced charmer Ainsey Melham whose tunes have a touch of Michael Buble) and helps his precocious child sister Trisha (Angelica Hale) discover confidence.
As soon as NY1 reporters understand Betty Boop has miraculously come to life — the present may be very conscious of its personal ridiculousness and performs it up — she unexpectedly lands an important function within the mayoral election.
“Boop”’s plot, like its title, is monosyllabic. A to Boop. The essential and predictable guide from author Bob Martin is unquestionably a nod to her brief movies, comparable to “Betty Boop, MD,” or “Betty Boop’s Big Boss.”
Don’t come in search of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Boop?” And why would you?
I didn’t at all times care the place the story was going. As an example, Grampy and Valentina, his astrophysicist ex-girlfriend performed by Religion Prince, serve up underwhelming comedian reduction in a musical that’s already all comedian reduction.
And the second half often meanders as complexities come up.
However due to the respectable one-liners, nice sufficient songs and ample flashy dance numbers — not a lot of these on Broadway anymore — I principally loved the bump-free trip to a contented ending.
The materials will get a boop-boop-a-boost from some magical moments of stagecraft by director Jerry Mitchell.
On the prime of Act 2, he manages possibly his finest trick for the reason that treadmill feat in “Kinky Boots” by utilizing costumes and sharp choreography to cleverly hop between the cartoon and flesh-and-blood worlds. Outdated-school tactile dazzle.
However, the present’s greatest problem exists off-stage: Making Betty Boop a draw 95 years after she debuted. At this level, the icon isn’t actually nostalgic to anybody or on the prime of anyone’s thoughts. No matter it’s possible you’ll really feel concerning the big-eyed flapper, the attraction right now is just not the title, however Rogers.
She will be able to do all of it. As smiley, effervescent and, effectively, animated as the actress is for a lot of the evening, she finds energy and emotional resonance in her 11 o’clock quantity “Something To Shout About.”
After that stunner, it’s simple — and a pleasure — to think about Rogers taking part in any variety of elements sooner or later.
And there’s nothing unsuitable with an animated character in a brainless musical being your first splash.
Who received a Tony for her efficiency as Sally in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” 26 years in the past? That’d be Kristin Chenoweth.
There’s such a throwback showbiz power to discovering a significant expertise like Rogers that makes the marquee lights twinkle a bit brighter as you boop out of the theater and off to Sardi’s.
