Video: BOOP! The Musical's David Foster, Jerry Mitchell, Jasmine Amy Rogers & More Meet the Press

Broadway In Chicago's BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical met the press this week at Broadway In Chicago’s CIBC Theatre. BroadwayWorld sat down with the cast and creative team to talk about bringing the beloved character to the stage.

Leading the cast are Jasmine Amy Rogers as Betty Boop (Mean Girls national tour), Tony Award-winner Faith Prince as Valentina (Guys and Dolls, “Monarch”), Ainsley Melham as Dwayne (Aladdin), Erich Bergen as Raymond (Jersey Boys, “Madam Secretary”), Stephen DeRosa as Grampy (“Boardwalk Empire”), Angelica Hale as Trisha (“America’s Got Talent” finalist), and Anastacia McCleskey as Carol (Caroline or Change).

The cast also includes Lawrence Alexander (Follies), Tristen Buettel (Bad Cinderella), Colin Bradbury (Funny Girl), Joshua Burrage (Cats), Gabi Campo (Some Like it Hot), Dan Castiglione (Yes Day), Rebecca Corrigan (In the Heights), Josh Drake (Aladdin), RJ Higton (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), Phillip Huber (Being John Malkovich), Nina Lafarga (In the Heights), Aubie Merrylees (To Kill A Mockingbird), Morgan McGhee (The Who’s Tommy at the Goodman), Ryah Nixon (Once Upon a One More Time), Christian Probst (Bad Cinderella), Ricky Schroeder (Kinky Boots), Gabriella Sorrentino (Hamilton), Brooke Taylor (recent graduate of University of Michigan), Courtney Arango (A Chorus Line), Ian Gallagher Fitzgerald (Kinky Boots), Sydney Jones (A Beautiful Noise), Derek Jordan Taylor (student at Boston Conservatory), Amy Van Norstrand (Holiday Inn).

Tony Award®-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Pretty Woman: The Musical, Hairspray) brings the Queen of the Animated Screen to the theater in BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical, with celebrated multiple Grammy® Award-winning composer David Foster (“I Have Nothing,” “After The Love Is Gone,” “The Prayer”), Tony Award®-nominated lyricist Susan Birkenhead (Working, Jelly’s Last Jam), and Tony Award®-winning book writer Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone, The Prom).   

Betty Boop, that sassy-sweet champion of empowerment, that spit-curled icon of joy, that songstress of strength, comes alive in BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical, the new Broadway-bound musical comedy extravaganza. 

For almost a century, Betty Boop, created by animation pioneer Max Fleischer, has won hearts and inspired fans around the world with her trademark looks, voice, and style. Now, in BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical, Betty's dream of an ordinary day off from the super-celebrity in her black-and-white world leads to an extraordinary adventure of color, music, and love in New York City — one that reminds her and the world, “You are capable of amazing things.” 

The design and creative team for BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical includes David Rockwell, set design (Broadway: A Beautiful Noise, Into the Woods [2002], She Loves Me [2016 Tony Award®]); Gregg Barnes, costumes (Tony Awards®: The Drowsy Chaperone, Follies [2011], Some Like It Hot); Philip S. Rosenberg, lighting (Broadway: Mrs. Doubtfire, Pretty Woman); Gareth Owen, sound (Tony Award®: MJ: The Musical); Finn Ross, projection design (Tony Award® The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time); Sabana Majeed, hair & wig design (Uncut); Michael Clifton, makeup design (New York, New York); Skyler Fox, illusions design (Volkov); The Huber Marionettes, marionette Design (Darling Grenadine Jeff Award nomination); and Daryl Waters, musical supervision and arrangements (Broadway: The Cher Show, Shuffle Along, After Midnight).