Betty Boop Musical BOOP! Sets World Premiere in Chicago
Beloved cartoon character Betty Boop is making her way to the stage IRL. The Broadway-aimed musical BOOP! The Musical will have its world premiere November 19–December 31 at the CIBC Theatre in Chicago.
Betty Boop became an overnight sensation in the ‘30s thanks to her bubbly personality, flapper-inspired costumes, and oft-quoted “boop-boop-be-doop-boop” catchphrase.
According to the Smithsonian, Betty Boop made her debut in 1930 in a cartoon by Dave and Max Fleischer. She embodied the glitz and glamor of the Jazz Age, offering viewers a respite from the harsh realities of the Great Depression. She is also reportedly the first fully human female animated character to ever grace the screen.
Since then, she has appears in countless animated short films, many of which were played during the ‘30s and ‘40s before feature films in cinemas. Some of her most famous cartoons include “Snow White,” “Boop Oop a Doop” and “Betty Boop for President”
Directed and choreographed by Tony winner Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical features music by Grammy winner David Foster, lyrics by Tony nominee Susan Birkenhead, and a book by Tony winner Bob Martin. The story, featuring characters created by Max Fleischer, will follow Betty as she takes goes incognito, swapping her ordinary black-and-white celebrity lifestyle for a colorful adventure in NYC.
“Creating a new Broadway musical is such a gift. It is a special joy to be working on BOOP! in Chicago, so close to my hometown, at the very theatre where I first fell in love with musicals when I saw A Chorus Line there back in 1978,” said Mitchell. “David Foster and Susan Birkenhead have created a first-class score to frame Bob Martin’s touching tale about an icon, Betty Boop and her indomitable spirit in this Jazz Hot love story. BOOP! is for everybody. I promise the entire family will be singing and dancing as they walk up the aisle. BOOP! is a musical for our time”
For more information and tickets, click here.
