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Video: Inside Rehearsals for BOOP! THE MUSICAL
Feb 25, 2025
Betty's coming to Broadway! Rehearsals are underway for BOOP! The Musical, which is set to begin previews on March 11 ahead of an official opening on April 5. Watch in this video as the whole company takes a break from rehearsals to explain what the new musical is all about.
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I'm over the moon, truly over the moon
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It's my Broadway debut, and what a Broadway debut, you know. It's really cool
0:19
Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. Boop the musical is coming to Broadway
0:24
Based on the iconic 1930s cartoon character Betty Boop, the zany and fun musical will open
0:29
on April 5th at the Broadhurst Theater, and we dropped by the rehearsal room to meet the company
0:37
This show is fabulous. You know, I can't always say that about musicals
0:42
but this is a fabulous musical. The score is incredible. Jasmine's incredible
0:48
Ainsley's incredible. Faith is incredible. Stevens and Eric, they're all incredible. Pudgy's incredible
0:53
The dancers are killing themselves. I mean, Roch and John Rua have helped me create something
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really special. What unlocked Boop for you as a songwriter? What attracted you to this and what was like
1:05
oh, now I get it? You know, honestly, nobody asked. Until them
1:10
Like somebody said to me, hey, would you like to write a musical? I was like, hell yeah, I would
1:14
What's the musical? Well, it's Betty Boop. Great. I mean, it could have been anything, probably
1:19
But I'm happy that it is Boop because of course she iconic And you know it was an adventure It still is I just sort of bounded into this thing which is so full of joy and love
1:35
And you can't imagine what it's like to go to work in this room, really
1:40
And I've worked with a lot of great people. I love all of my Broadway families
1:46
But I've never gone to work in a room like this where every day
1:51
day is just joy. This has been such a positive experience. Jerry Mitchell really keeps the room fun
2:01
There's a lot of laughter. Betty's story is strangely moving as well
2:06
I get moved when I'm watching it, particularly why I look around the corner
2:10
which is the number in the middle of the second act. And I get to work with David Foster and Susan Birkenhead
2:17
It's been just a wonderful experience. Little girls coming to this show, seeing themselves on stage through you, what that means to you
2:23
It means everything. I have nieces that are getting to come. This is my first, like, super friendly, friendly family show that I get to do
2:29
And it means the world. I've met some people on the street, even, who are just like
2:34
oh, my goodness, I'm so excited. I can't wait to see you do this. And it's really nice to just connect with, like, fellow women and girls
2:41
and just be someone they can look up to, which is a lot, but it's really special
2:46
This is really special because I get to bring a little bit of meat to it And you always bring part of yourself to anything that you do but in this case you know we being asked to have import we being asked to collaborate and have a little bit of a say
2:59
about how this show and our characters evolve. So that's really exciting for me
3:03
It has a feeling of old world, meshed with new world. Hence, the black and white world with the color world, you know
3:14
And I think they've done such an incredible. incredible job, the writers with the songs and the book, and it's new, it's not a movie, you know
3:24
it's not based on anything that anybody knows. So you're walking into theater discovering this
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and discovering who she is. And she's been an icon for many, many years, you know. She was a strong
3:37
woman. She was president before there was a woman president, right? Most of my work is in act two in
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this show. I have a little bit in Act 1. So when I'm not on stage, I run to the back and I sit in
3:47
the back of the house, or I'll stand in the back of the house and watch the show. And when I saw it
3:52
for the first time, I thought, this show is great. And then it hit me, I'm in it. And, you know
3:59
I, this is what I grew up wanting to do. I'm a kid who went to stage door manner. This was always the
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plan. It was to do this. And to get to do this and originate this role with this group of people
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I you know who to thunk I extremely excited This is so surreal I can believe I actually get to say I going to be on Broadway Oh my God It your debut It is my debut I been like I going to be honest I remember going to New York when I was
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younger to audition for like Broadway and you know, I never see, never ever saw myself doing this
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when I was older. Like it's crazy. I actually get to say it on Broadway. I'm so excited
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I think the show is awesome and it's so cool to come back to a show that we did in Chicago and
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just spend rehearsal rediscovering it and making it better, you know? What's made this musical so special
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for you with working on poop? It's fun and it has a lot of heart and a lot of love
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and it reminds people to love themselves, tap in with themselves, and then
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exude that love out and take care of each other. I'm just incredibly grateful
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and I think that people are gonna, I pray, I pray that people
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just come and they feel the kind of joy and love that we
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get to feel in doing this piece because that's where the real
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the source material is the Fleischer Studios cartoons which were about laughter and love
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and silliness but also under the radar about female empowerment right and about all kinds of things
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that people weren't talking about and yet it's all there so you know
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What can I tell you
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