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

Well, needless to say, it would be an understatement to say that the world is a very difficult place right now in so many ways

And it probably was a difficult place 20 years ago, too, but it just seems so agitated right now, you know

And so Betty's a symbol of goodness and kindness and strength and positivity

And gosh, I mean, there's always room for that. And I think for people to escape for a couple hours is a good thing

You know, there's a lot of heavy things on Broadway. There's a lot of heaviness in the world

Betty's all about being like, she is the light. You know, I've written 40 plus songs

30 of them have gone away. And probably some more will go away too

It's just, it's the nature of the beast, and it's the part that I hate about it

But it is inevitable. And nobody's ever, even the greats like Stephen Litzonheim and Stephen Schwartz

they don't escape that. that, you know, you can have a great song, but it just doesn't work

And so I've had to deal with that. Yeah, Bill got the rights from the estate a long time ago

and they'd been working with different authors and different writers, but never quite could crack a story that they felt strongly about

And I pitched this new idea, and it seems to have taken hold

and we'll see how good it is. I'm certainly having a ball

And, you know, it's really about one thing. love She on a journey to find love And when she finds it her world turns to color Because your world is never full of color until your world is full of love You know that last run through we did I really love this cast

That's all I can say. And I think that the love they brought to my life, the encouragement they brought to my life

and just that feeling of like, these are good people. I think I'll just always have

And it was our last run through, it was us and our family and friends. and my voice teacher who Judith Clurman

she works at Manhattan School of Music, that's where I met her. She, the joy and the pride that she had changed me

It was just the most amazing thing on the planet. I hope they feel like their soul is lit up a little bit

Like they leave with hope in the world and hope in each other and love in their hearts

And I hope that women leave feeling inspired and reminded of the things that we'd

can do and do every day and just how complex we as humans are. Because, you know, this is a story

about, you know, Betty as a woman, but also just as a person and as she's becoming more of a

three-dimensional person. And I think it'll be really, really nice for everybody to be reminded of

like, the good that we're all capable of and how much love and light we all have. So, yeah

I was expecting great things, and it's been sheer magic and joy. Yeah, I'm, I was, I was

I'm constantly saying how grateful I am, and they're like, stop. And I was just like but I can because sometimes they they so generous and so respectful and so want to hear what you have to say and surprise you with their ideas and how quickly they work and how they love the material but they also love the people

And that's, it's a, it's a gift for an actor. So really, it gets to be collaborative

Yeah, it's kind of miraculous and exciting. And they're so at the top of their game, these people, you know, and I didn't know

so glad the first day, when back the first time I did the reading, I'm going to, I'm embarrassing

myself, but I didn't know who David Foster was. And because of that, I was more relaxed

Had I known who David, like, the canon of his work, I know that I would have, I would have

frozen up and tanked. And then, and so the angels were with me. And so I was like, I had fun. And so

then by the time David liked me, I was like, you're David fricking Foster. He's like

Oh my God. You're asking me what I think about singing this

Um, hello? Should we call Celine Dion? What's got back? Should Barbara Drisen get involved

What's happening? Even when we were rehearsing in New York, um, just like seeing that

because, you know, there's obviously changes being made to the show in the beginning when we're rehearsing

And so seeing like everyone's minds at work to see how we can make the show better

It's just, it's so awesome because everyone's putting their piece into the puzzle to make it the best that it can be

So I think moments like, those I think are, they stand out to me at least

Yeah Like when Bob Martin or Susan says to you you know tell me more about what you think is going on with Dwayne at the moment and then they incorporate into the script Or when Jerry says you know we need to fill like these few bars of music

Just go away and, you know, think up some steps what you think Dwayne would deliver in this moment

Like, it feels so thrilling to be trusted by people of that caliber to bring this show to life

It's a show that you can bring your entire family to. And we haven't had that in a minute in theater

And right now the world is kind of upside down. and I think we need that escape

something that brings us joy and that reminds us that we can stand in our authentic truth

and be our authentic selves and scream that loud and proud to the world

you know, and encourage other people to do that. So I think that's why right now is the right time for this show

Like Stacey was saying, this is the first time in a long time

that everyone can come to the theater. You bring your entire family

and everyone gets something, no one's offended, everyone's having a great time

The last time I felt something like that on that level was hairspray

You and hairspray. I mean, it's that same feeling all over again where the joy in the room is palpable

So it's very exciting to be a part of something like that

Also, Jerry mentioned this in rehearsal one day, but Angelica, who plays Tricia, he mentioned

about encouraging young people and reminding them of who they are. And I think that's really important in this time, in the world, because they are a future

and they're going to take the torch and run with it