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Boop! The Musical will play its final Broadway performance on Sunday, July 13, producers announced today. The show will have played 25 previews and 112 regular performances.

The musical is the fourth Broadway production — after Smash, Real Women Have Curves and Dead Outlaw — to announce an early close after coming up empty at the Tony Awards earlier this month.

Featuring the Tony-nominated breakout star Jasmine Amy Rogers in the title role, Boop! began previews March 11 and opened to lukewarm reviews (except for the widely praised Rogers) on April 5 at the Broadhurst Theatre.

The production, capitalized for up to $26 million (which it has not recouped), struggled at the box office, with attendance usually below the 80% mark of the Broadhurst’s capacity. For the week ending June 22, the show grossed a below-break-even $602,017 with a very modest...

Boop! The Musical will play its final Broadway performance on July 13.

The closing announcement is the fourth new musical in the past several weeks, following Smash, Dead Outlaw and Real Women Have Curves. All are new musicals that came to Broadway this spring, that were hoping for boosts from the Tony Awards, but did not take home any trophies.

Boop star Jasmine Amy Rogers was nominated for a Tony Award this year, and the show also received nods for best costume design and best choreography.

The musical, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, opened at the Broadhurst Theater April 5, after starting previews March 11.

The show received mixed to positive reviews for the storyline that reimagines the cartoon character come to life in modern day New York. Rogers was highlighted as a standout, and she won the Drama Desk Award for outstanding lead performance, an award which she shared with Gypsy’s Audra McDonald.

Max Clayton will star as C.K. Dexter Haven in Ogunquit Playhouse’s reimagining of High Society. The production will run from July 24 – August 23. High Society features music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Arthur Kopit, with additional Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead. High Society takes Philip Barry's beloved comedy The Philadelphia Story and weaves in the sophisticated elegance of Cole Porter’s music. Centered on the taming of the brazen young socialite Tracy Lord, the characters made famous by Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart in George Kukor’s Oscar-winning 1940 film were given new life in 1956 by Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra in the musical adaptation. <br...

Jasmine Amy Rogers grew up feeling like a cartoon character. “My voice for a kid my age was a little lower than all the rest of the girls,” she says, “but it was also very, very raspy and also a little squeaky, and so people always used to tell me that I sounded like a cartoon character.”

Who better then to give life to Betty Boop, the intoxicating character that gives Boop! The Musical its name, that classic cartoon Jazz Age flapper with the funny voice and a head big and round enough to convey innocence and sophistication, flirtatiousness and humor. In an era when women were testing norms – and undue modesty was the first to go – Betty was star and a 1930s sensation, with legs for days, a bob as short as her dress and heels impossibly high, a New Modern Woman who proved popular with children and adults alike.

“It really feels like she's such a big part of me,” says Jasmine Amy Rogers of her character Betty Boop in the new Broadway tuner Boop! The Musical, “so it doesn't feel like I'm putting on this second skin. It feels like I'm bringing out a part of myself.” Rogers is making her Broadway debut in the bubbly new musical, adopting the infamous big eyes and short curled coiffure of the flapper cartoon. Costumes and wigs aided the actress, but Rogers watched countless Betty Boop shorts to find a way to translate the character’s mannerisms and attitude onto her own body. Rogers’ favorite short sees Betty clipping her toenails with a giant pair of scissors, too focused on the arduous task to pay attention to incessant knocking at the door. “She’s so quirky,” the actress tells Gold Derby in an exclusive new interview (watch above), “the little face...

At 95 years of age, an incredibly spry Betty Boop has made her Broadway debut. The iconic cartoon character introduced in 1930 has made the leap from page to stage featuring newcomer Jasmine Amy Rogers in the title role. Boop! The Musical bowed at the Broadhurst Theatre on April 6.

Boop! features a book by Tony winner Bob Martin, direction and choreography by two-time winner and Isabelle Stevenson Award recipient Jerry Mitchell, music and lyrics by David Foster and Tony nominee Susan Birkenhead, and an ensemble of 25, including Tony winner Faith Prince. In the musical, Boop’s grandfather transports the iconic cartoon from her monochromatic world to contemporary New York City, where she must navigate her new connections in the real world and those in the cartoon universe, which is lost without her.

See 2025 Tony Awards predictions: ‘Dead Outlaw,’ ‘Purpose’ are up, ‘Our Town,’ ‘Once Upon a Mattress’ are down in odds

Critics...

If you want to be three-dimensional about it, there’s plenty wrong with Boop! The Musical, now running at the Broadhurst Theatre. The opening number is a headscratcher that explodes into a tap extravaganza with no setup or context. The leading man is saddled with a paper-thin backstory. Lots of the lyrics go clunk. And the plot makes absolutely no sense.

In this kooky story, the iconic 1930s cartoon character Betty Boop (Jasmine Amy Rogers) created by animation pioneer Max Fleischer shows up in contemporary New York City, and in spite of glimpsing so much garbage, poverty, and corruption all around her, she still sees something magical that she can’t help but resist. Maybe it’s Betty’s unshakeable optimism rubbing off, but Boop!, for all its unmissably ramshackle flaws, is joyously irresistible.

At the show’s start, Betty finds herself getting tired of her literally black-and-white life in ToonTown.

Betty Boop has arrived on Broadway and you can now watch a sneak peek of Boop! The Musical‘s incredible opening number.

The show’s official Instagram account has videos of Jasmine Amy Rogers and the ensemble performing “A Little Versatility” during the first preview performance on Tuesday (March 11) at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City.

Jasmine is making her Broadway debut as Betty and she received rave reviews for her performance in the out-of-town run in Chicago in December 2023. She stars alongside Faith Prince, Erich Bergen, Ainsley Melham, Angelica Hale, Stephen DeRosa, and Anastacia McCleskey.

For almost a century, Betty Boop, created by animation pioneer Max Fleischer, has won hearts and inspired fans around the world with her trademark looks, voice, and style. Now, in Boop! The Musical, Betty’s dream of an ordinary day off from the super-celebrity in her black-and-white world leads to an extraordinary adventure of color,...

We’re about halfway through the 2024-25 Broadway season, and there are 12 productions of musicals set to open this spring. Could any of them contend at this year’s Tony Awards? Below, find the summaries of each plot, as well as its author, cast, composer, and director. You’ll also get the opening, and (where applicable) closing dates.

SEETony Talk: Plays ‘Oh, Mary!’ and ‘The Hills of California,’ actor Kit Connor are on track for nominations Redwood

Previews began: Jan. 24

Opens: Feb. 13

Official synopsis: Jesse seems to have it all, a successful career and devoted family, until a life-altering event drives her far from everyone and everything she knows. When she finds herself at the foot of the redwoods in Northern California, a chance encounter and a leap of faith will change her life forever.

Book by Tony nominee Tina Landau

Score by Kate Diaz and Tina Landau

Directed by...

Principal casting for the new Broadway musical Boop! The Musical was announced today, with Jasmine Amy Rogers and Faith Prince set to reprise their well-reviewed performances from last year’s Chicago engagement.

Rogers will play Betty Boop and Prince will portray the character Valentina. The musical, which begins previews at the Broadhurst Theatre on on March 11, 2025, with an official opening on April 5, will also feature other members of the Chicago cast, including Ainsley Melham as Dwayne, Erich Bergen as Raymond, Stephen DeRosa as Grampy, Anastacia McCleskey as Carol, Angelica Hale as Trisha, Phillip Huber (Pudgy the Dog), and Aubie Merrylees as Oscar.

Additional casting will be announced soon.

Director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell said in a statement, “I am over the moon that our Chicago principal cast will be joining us on the journey to Broadway. Everyone embodies the infectious positive spirit of Betty Boop, and I can’t wait...

Boop! The Betty Boop Musical will begin previews at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre on on March 11, 2025, with an opening night set for April 5.

The previously announced engagement follows a well-received run in Chicago last year.

Broadway casting and ticket information will be announced soon.

Directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, the musical features a score by composer David Foster, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead and book by Bob Martin.

The synopsis: For almost a century, Betty Boop, created by animation pioneer Max Fleischer, has won hearts and inspired fans around the world with her trademark looks, voice, and style. Now, in Boop! The Betty Boop Musical, Betty’s dream of an ordinary day off from the super-celebrity in her black-and-white world leads to an extraordinary adventure of color, music, and finding love in New York City — one that reminds her and the world, “You are capable of amazing things.”

The design...

A musical about Betty Boop is the latest to join Broadway’s 2024-2025 season.

Helmed by director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell, Boop! The Betty Boop Musical will open on Broadway in April 2025. The show is slated to open at a Shubert Theatre, but the exact theater and dates have not yet been announced.

In addition to Mitchell, who has won Tony Awards for choreographing the 2004 revival of La Cage aux Folles and Kinky Boots, the musical features music by David Foster, a 16-time Grammy Award winner, and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead (Jelly’s Last Jam). The book is by Bob Martin, a Tony Award winner for The Drowsy Chaperone.

Casting has also not yet been announced. However, the musical premiered in Chicago last year, with Jasmine Amy Rogers, who played Gretchen Wieners in the national tour of Mean Girls, in the lead role.

The musical, based on the animated character created by Max Fleischer,...

Boop! The Betty Boop Musical directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, will open on Broadway in April 2025 at a Shubert theater to be announced, producers said today.

The Broadway production follows a successful engagement in Chicago last year that starred Jasmine Amy Rogers as the title character. Casting for the Broadway production will be announced soon.

In addition to Mitchell, the Boop team includes composer David Foster, lyricist Susan Birkenhead and book writer Bob Martin.

“Creating Boop! with David, Susan and Bob and premiering in Chicago last holiday season was a gift to all of us and our entire family,” said Mitchell in a statement. “I can’t wait to bring Betty home to Broadway next spring.”

Betty Boop, the bawdy, big-headed, sweet-voiced cartoon character with the spit-curled hair created by animation pioneer Max Fleischer, was a major draw in the 1930s and has long since become an iconic image in American culture.

The Tony Award-winning musical Jelly’s Last Jam is heading to Los Angeles with an exciting cast!

Jasmine Amy Rogers will be leading the production following her acclaimed turn as Betty Boop in the Broadway bound musical Boop! last year in Chicago. While casting for the upcoming Broadway production has not yet been confirmed, it’s widely believed that she will be reprising her performance.

In the meantime, Jasmine is set to play Anita in Pasadena Playhouse’s production of Jelly’s Last Jam, which will run from May 29 through June 23.

Susan Birkenhead, who wrote the lyrics for Boop!, also wrote the lyrics for Jelly’s Last Jam. The classic musical features music by Jelly Roll Morton and a book by George C. Wolfe.

Also starring in the Pasadena Playhouse production are John Clarence Stewart from Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and Cress Williams from Black Lightning.

Here’s the synopsis:...

Boop! The Betty Boop Musical will have its world premiere production in Chicago at the end of the year and full casting has been announced!

Newcomer Jasmine Amy Rogers is taking on the lead role of Betty Boop.

“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,” she told the Associated Press.

Tony winner Faith Prince, Madam Secretary actor Erich Bergen, Aladdin‘s Ainsley Melham, Boardwalk Empire‘s Stephen DeRosa, and Waitress actress Anastacia McCleskey round out the lead cast for the upcoming pre-Broadway run.

The music for the show was written by 16-time Grammy-winning composer David Foster and Tony-nominated lyricist Susan Birkenhead. The show features a book by Tony-winning writer Bob Martin, best known for The Drowsy Chaperone and The Prom.

Jasmine Amy Rogers, who recently finished a run as the scene-stealing “Gretchen Wieners” in the national tour of Mean Girls, has been cast in the title role of the pre-Broadway world premiere of Boop! The Betty Boop Musical.

Rogers will play the iconic big-headed Jazz Age flapper for a limited engagement at Chicago’s Cibc Theatre from November 19-December 24. The production is part of the Broadway in Chicago line-up.

Directed and choreographed by Tony winning Jerry Mitchell, Boop! features music by composer David Foster, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead and a book by The Prom‘s Bob Martin.

Although the Chicago staging is described by producers as a “pre-Broadway premiere,” neither a Broadway production timeline nor Broadway casting has been disclosed yet.

“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,...

Following a season that saw its Broadway transfers Into the Woods and Parade score a slew of Tony Award nominations, the New York City Center has announced what’s coming next for its celebrated Encores! series: Once Upon a Mattress, Jelly’s Last Jam and Titanic.

The 30th annual Encores! season of concert stagings will kick off in January with Sutton Foster playing Princess Winnifred the Woebegone in Once Upon a Mattress (January 24-28) – the role made famous in 1959 by then-up-and-comer Carol Burnett. Directed by Encores! Artistic Director Lear deBessonet with a new concert adaptation by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, the comical update of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Princess and the Pea features such musical numbers as “Shy” and “In a Little While” with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer.

Next up is Jelly’s Last Jam,...

With less than a week left for the opening in Doha, Qatar, of the Mira Nair-helmed musical, ‘Monsoon Wedding’, based on her iconic 2001 film, members of the cast and crew are taking to their Instagram handles to share pictures of themselves shot by Ishaan Nair (who also had a role in the film) and sharing their excitement to be a part of the FIFA World Cup fever.

The musical, its score written by acclaimed composer-director Vishal Bharadwaj, will open at the Abdul Aziz Nasser Theatre in Doha on November 15.

Namit Das, who was most recently seeing playing the shoe company executive Haresh Khanna in BBC television drama mini-series ‘The Suitable Boy’ (also directed by Mira Nair), shared the cast’s sense of anticipation when he wrote: “The countdown has begun for this ‘Monsoon Wedding’ to shower Doha, Qatar, with a dose of entertainment.”

Das plays the eccentric, marigold (‘genda’)-chewing wedding planner,...

Exclusive: A five-part video and podcast series celebrating the life and career of Broadway composer Lucy Simon – one of the final projects the sister of Carly Simon worked on prior to her death last week – launches today on YouTube and the Broadway Podcast Network.

Celebrating Lucy Simon was announced and released today by Broadway Podcast Network Co-Founders Dori Berinstein and Alan Seales. The series will feature never-before-heard stories from The Secret Garden composer Simon herself, as well as from such collaborators as Judy Collins, Marshall Brickman, Marsha Norman, Victoria Clark, and others.

The series will also include new performances by Broadway stars Sierra Boggess, Funny Girl‘s Ramin Karimloo, The Secret Garden original stars Daisy Eagan and John Cameron Mitchell, and others. Eagan, Boggess and Karimloo performed in two New York concert versions of The Secret Garden in 2016. Songs to be performed on the new series will include the musical’s “Wick,...

In a very sad development, Carly Simon lost both of her sisters this week, with Broadway composer Lucy Simon dying of breast cancer Thursday and former opera singer Joanna Simon passing from thyroid cancer on Wednesday.

Both deaths were confirmed by a source close to pop superstar Carly. Lucy Simon was 82, Joanna Simon was 84.

Born into wealth and a rarified atmosphere of celebrity and literati to Simon & Schuster publisher Richard Simon and wife Andrea, the Simon sisters – their brother Peter was the youngest sibling – would all find their ways to success in professional music careers.

Lucy entered show business in the early 1960s when she and Carly formed the folk singing duo The Simon Sisters, performing in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and New York City’s Greenwich Village. In 1964, the sisters recorded and released the song “Wynken, Blynken & Nod” to moderate success.

Within 10 years Carly Simon would become one of pop music...

Click here to read the full article.

Lucy Simon, the composer and sister of pop superstar Carly Simon who received a Tony nomination in 1991 for her work on the long-running Broadway musical The Secret Garden, has died. She was 82.

Simon died Thursday at her home in Piedmont, New York, after a long battle with breast cancer, a family spokesperson announced.

She and Carly began their careers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, as The Simon Sisters, and their folk act opened for the likes of The Tarriers in Greenwich Village nightclubs. Their recording of “Wynken, Blynken & Nod” reached No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964.

Lucy Simon became the rare female composer to have a show on Broadway when The Secret Garden debuted in April 1991. Starring Rebecca Luker, Mandy Patinkin, Alison Fraser and Daisy Eagan and based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved children’s novel, the musical ran for 709 performances on Broadway, won...

The 65th Annual Drama Desk Awards honoring the best in New York theater were announced Saturday night, with The Inheritance being named Outstanding Play and A Strange Loop taking the trophy for Outstanding Musical.

The remote ceremony was hosted by Frank Dilella. Normally, the awards are announced at a gathering of theater artists and critics in New York City. But this year, the gathering was replaced by a pre-recorded ceremony because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The awards show had initially been scheduled to air May 31, but was postponed due to the Black Lives Matter protests in New York City.

Tonight’s ceremony aired on NY1 and streamed on NY1.com and DramaDeskAwards.com. The Drama Desk Awards recipients were decided by theater critics, journalists, editors and publishers covering theater. Read the complete list of winners below.

65th Annual Drama Desk Award Winners:

Outstanding Play

Cambodian Rock Band, by Lauren Yee,...

Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge!, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Grand Horizons, Mary-Louise Parker and Jonathan Groff are among this year’s Outer Critics Circle Awards recipients, a collection of Broadway and Off Broadway recipients that make up the organization’s first-ever slate of multiple honorees.

With the Tony Awards remaining a mere possibility this year, the 70th Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards took an unusual approach to an unusual, pandemic-shortened theater season: In lieu of selecting traditional nominees with one winner from each category, the Occ named five honorees in each of its technical categories and up to six honorees in acting categories. Four artists received the annual John Gassner Award this season, commemorating works by new American playwrights.

Recalibrated to celebrate “widespread excellence in New York theater this season,” the Occ Awards – chosen by the official organization of writers on New York theatre for out-of-town newspapers and national...

The Inheritance, Sea Wall/A Life, Slave Play and Girl From The North Country are among the Broadway nominees of this year’s Drama League Awards, along with a significant shows of Off Broadway productions.

Honoring productions that opened during the Covid-shortened 2019-2020 season, the nominations were announced by Beetlejuice’s Alex Brightman and Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer via livestream last night. Voting is currently open for Drama League members through May 22, with winners to be announced via livestream in June.

More from DeadlineWatch: Terrence McNally Video Tribute Set For Drama League Awards Online EventBroadway's 'Moulin Rouge!' Star Aaron Tveit Tests Positive For Covid-19, Symptoms "Very Mild"Broadway's 'Moulin Rouge! The Musical' Cancels Today's Performances "Out Of Abundance Of Caution"; No Positive Tests For Coronavirus - Update

Among the individual performers nominated for the League’s Distinguished Performance Award were Raúl Esparza, David Alan Grier, Jonathan Groff, Jake Gyllenhaal,...

Exclusive: New plays and musicals by Pulitzer Prize winners Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart) and Tom Kitt (Next To Normal) are among the works-in-progress set for this summer’s 35th edition of the prestigious Powerhouse Season of Vassar and New York Stage and Film.

Presented annually at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, Powerhouse has given starts to an impressive roster of work, including Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton and Stephen Karam’s The Humans. Powerhouse also presented first-look productions of two finalists for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves and Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. A sampling of other current or recent Broadway and Off Broadway shows that can trace roots to the festival are Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown; the Lynn Nottage/Duncan Sheik/Susan Birkenhead musical The Secret Life of Bees; the Duncan Sheik/Steven Sater/Jessie Nelson musical Alice...

The Secret Life of Bees, a new musical based on the best-selling novel and with music by Dunan Sheik, will make its world premiere next May at the Atlantic Theater Off-Broadway. The production will be directed by Tony winner Sam Gold (Fun Home).

The musical, with a book by Lynn Nottage and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd, is part of the Atlantic’s 2018-19 season announced today, a roster that includes The Mother, a new play starring Oscar-nominated actress Isabelle Huppert.

Sheik’s 2006 Spring Awakening won the Tony Award for Best Musical. His 2016 American Psycho, though, was a Broadway flop.

Bees would seem altogether likelier musical material than the bloody, bloody American Psycho. Kidd’s 2001 novel, set in 1964, was adapted into a 2008 film starring Dakota Fanning and Queen Latifah, and tells the story of, as the Atlantic describes it, “a restless white teenager...