The actor picked to play the iconic, baby-faced flapper Betty Boop in a new stage musical is a triple threat from Texas with a contagious laugh.
Jasmine Amy Rogers will star in “BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical” making its debut this fall in Chicago with hopes that it can charm itself to Broadway. It first plays Broadway In Chicago from Nov. 19-Dec. 24.
“Those are huge shoes to fill, but I’m in such a great company. I have so many people around me that are helping me find her and bring her to life, and so it’s really, really exciting,” Rogers told The Associated Press before her official unveiling Wednesday.
The musical is directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, who discovered Rogers while he was directing the musical “Becoming Nancy” at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in 2019.
“I remember even when she first auditioned for me for that there was something about her — that ‘it’ thing. They walk in and they’ve got that ‘it’ thing and you watch them and you go, ‘That’s the person,’” said Mitchell.
“I was looking for moxie. I was looking for effervescence,” he said. “There’s a song at the end of the first act, and when she sang the song, she just made me cry, brought me to tears with so much joy and so much style. That was it. She completely won the role. She came in and won the role.”
Plus, he added, Rogers has an ability to be vulnerable and a contagious laugh: “She’s got that that crazy giggle that just makes me giddy.”
The musical has songs by multiple Grammy Award-winning composer David Foster, Tony Award-nominated lyricist Susan Birkenhead and a story by Tony Award-winning book writer Bob Martin (“The Drowsy Chaperone,” “The Prom”).
Betty Boop has been a queen of animated cartoon characters since 1930, wearing round eyes, a strapless minidress, with a garter peeking out above her knee and large hoop earrings in her ears. She was introduced in short movies fluttering her lashes and trilling her signature “Boop-oop-a-doop,” a Depression-era bad girl.
The musical’s creators have crafted a story of empowerment for Betty. “The character is one of those indomitable spirits that just can’t be broken,” said Mitchell. “There’s one thing missing in her life, and it’s love. And she doesn’t even know what it is because she’s never experienced it in any of her shorts. So she goes on this journey to find it.”
Rogers said it is important for her to show Betty as a fully-fleshed human being. “I really hope for young women that come to see it, that they they do leave feeling inspired, and they feel seen and loved and heard,” she said.
Rogers is one of many young actors taking on roles that weren’t necessarily created with Black women in mind. “I’m basically casting Jasmine to fulfill the story that we’re telling in this musical,” says Mitchell. “And when you see the musical, I think you’ll immediately understand why I cast her.”
The musical has songs by multiple Grammy Award-winning composer David Foster, Tony Award-nominated lyricist Susan Birkenhead and a story by Tony Award-winning book writer Bob Martin (“The Drowsy Chaperone,” “The Prom”).
Betty Boop has been a queen of animated cartoon characters since 1930, wearing round eyes, a strapless minidress, with a garter peeking out above her knee and large hoop earrings in her ears. She was introduced in short movies fluttering her lashes and trilling her signature “Boop-oop-a-doop,” a Depression-era bad girl.
The musical’s creators have crafted a story of empowerment for Betty. “The character is one of those indomitable spirits that just can’t be broken,” said Mitchell. “There’s one thing missing in her life, and it’s love. And she doesn’t even know what it is because she’s never experienced it in any of her shorts. So she goes on this journey to find it.”
Rogers said it is important for her to show Betty as a fully-fleshed human being. “I really hope for young women that come to see it, that they they do leave feeling inspired, and they feel seen and loved and heard,” she said.
Rogers is one of many young actors taking on roles that weren’t necessarily created with Black women in mind. “I’m basically casting Jasmine to fulfill the story that we’re telling in this musical,” says Mitchell. “And when you see the musical, I think you’ll immediately understand why I cast her.”
