Chicago has its Betty!
Jasmine Amy Rogers will be stepping into the role of Betty Boop for the world premiere of “BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical,” set to debut in November in its pre-Broadway run at the CIBC Theatre (18 W. Monroe St.).
The announcement was made Wednesday morning.
Rogers’ credits include her role as Gretchen Wieners in the national touring production of “Mean Girls,” Melody Green in “The Wanderer” at Paper Mill Playhouse, as well as a TV appearance on the Paramount+ series “Evil.”
The musical, with a book by Tony Award winner Bob Martin (“The Drowsy Chaperone”), is directed by Tony winner Jerry Mitchell (“Kinky Boots,” “Hairspray”) with music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner David Foster and Tony-nominated Susan Birkenhead.
With her Roaring ’20s-style hairdo, signature red lips, flirty personality, provocative attire and signature “boop-oop-a-doop” catchphrase, Betty Boop (voiced by Mae Questel at New York’s Fleischer Studios) was the star of more than 100 cartoons. She was considered too sexy for the big screen by the late 1930s, and her film shorts career came to an end.
“From the moment Jasmine walks into a room and shares that magnificent smile and her contagious laugh, you know you are in the presence of Betty Boop. And, like the cartoon Betty, Jasmine can do everything brilliantly — acting, singing, dancing,” Mitchell said in the official announcement.
The show will run Nov. 19-Dec. 24. Tickets are available at broadwayinchicago.com.
