Latest news with #BettyBoop
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jasmine Amy Rogers Brings Betty Boop to Life in ‘Boop! The Musical' on Broadway
For 'Boop! The Musical' star Jasmine Amy Rogers, Betty Boop was 'always in the background of my life somewhere,' says the dynamic Broadway lead. 'I always knew who she was because she's in our pop culture,' she adds. 'But I definitely didn't know her the way I do now.' Rogers explored almost a century of Betty Boop lexicon, from the character's catchphrases to signature poses and coquettish red-lipped pout, while working to bring the character to life onstage in 'Boop! The Musical.' The ubiquitous character, who first appeared in 1930, has gone through several cultural resurgences throughout the decades. More from WWD 'Floyd Collins' Star Jeremy Jordan Sports Custom Suit From Paolo Martorano Louis McCartney Brings 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' to Broadway Gracie Lawrence Finds Her 'Second Home' on Broadway in 'Just in Time' 'I just fell in love with her so deeply because I think she is — at least for me, and I think for a lot of people — the embodiment of everything that a woman is capable of,' says Rogers, who originated the role during the show's world debut in Chicago. 'She believes in a strong right and wrong, and her moral compass is unwavering, and I love that about her. It encourages me to be brave in my daily life.' The musical opens with Betty Boop starring in her own fictionalized gray-toned world, frozen in time. Looking for a break from her unwavering fame, Betty travels (with the help of a gadget invented by supporting character Grampy) to the current day 'real world' of New York City, landing in a technicolor Comic-Con where Betty Boop discovers that she is still popular there too, just as cosplay lore. In New York she quickly befriends a teen girl, stepping into the role of personal coach-slash-cheerleader. The show, which features a splashy ensemble cast, opens with a large tap dance routine that almost stood in the way of Rogers getting the role — her first dance audition fell flat. 'The hardest thing going into it for me was the dance and the physicality,' says the 25-year-old actress, who ended up getting a second shot at the part. 'I was really intimidated for a while, but once I decided that I really wanted it, I just had to take it into gear. I went to tap classes and I just got myself back into shape to do what was being asked of me,' she adds. 'Betty is a cartoon, but she's also drawn in such a specific way. So the way she moves, the way she walks, the way she stands, it all matters. And that was something that was really, really nerve-wracking to me when I started out.' Less intimidating, but still nerve-racking, was the character's high-pitched voice, which has since become second-nature for Rogers. 'When I was figuring it out, I was so nervous about it that I didn't wanna practice it even by myself at home because I was almost embarrassed,' she says, adding that she leaned on her childhood aptitude for cartoon impersonations. 'It's always been ingrained in me to kind of be a character. I've spent most of my life being that cartoon character, and trying to cool it down to go through my everyday life so I'm not so out of whack,' she says. 'I think a lot of theater kids come from a place like that.' Rogers, who grew up in Texas, began dancing and singing at a young age, and fell in love with musical theater after auditioning for a local community theater performance of 'Peter Pan.' 'I ended up getting a role in Tiger Lily's tribe, in the ensemble. But it was really an eye-opening moment for me where I was like, I'm getting to sing, I'm getting to dance, I'm getting to have fun,' says Rogers. 'I'm getting to do all these things that I really, really love, and I'm getting to do it on stage and I'm obsessed. From that moment on, I just was hooked on it. And I've been doing it since.' After high school, Rogers moved to New York to attend the Manhattan School of Music, and after graduation starred in several regional musical productions and as Gretchen Weiners in a national tour of the 'Mean Girls' musical in 2022. With the 'Boop!' opening night behind her — and Tonys Awards season still ahead — Rogers is looking forward to finding new aspects of Betty Boop to explore onstage, and continuing to connect with cross-generational audiences in what's already proved to be a life-changing role. '[Betty] has changed the way that I move through the world,' adds Rogers. 'I'm just a little bit more of a positive person lately, because I'm so full of joy and love.' Best of WWD Met Gala 2025 Committee Member Doechii's Standout Red Carpet Moments [PHOTOS] Remembering 'Gossip Girl' Actress Michelle Trachtenberg, Dead at 39: Front Rows to Red Carpets Through the Years [Photos] Carmen Dell'Orefice, 93: The World's Oldest Supermodel Redefining Timeless Beauty and Ageless Elegance [PHOTOS]
Forbes
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Meet Broadway's Betty Boop, Jasmine Amy Rogers
Jasmine Amy Rogers plays Betty Boop in BOOP! The Musical, now on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre Jasmine Amy Rogers will never forget where she was when she learned that she was offered the role of Betty Boop in BOOP! The Musical. It was the summer of 2023 and she had just left her apartment to get on the six train to take a class at Barry's Bootcamp. 'I was attempting to keep myself busy and was going to try this class for the first time,' says Rogers, who got the call from all three of her agents about the show that would run in Chicago before heading to Broadway. 'They always get on a four-way call. And they were saying, 'you're gonna play Boop.' They were proud of me, and so excited,' says Rogers. They told her to keep the news under wraps. 'The only person I could call was my mother,' she says. 'I remember it being a gloomy, warm, rainy day, but I was just over the moon and it was the best day ever.' The road to playing Betty Boop had been challenging for Rogers. The musical about the strong and sultry iconic comic book character who debuted in 1930 had a dream creative team attached. That included director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell, composer David Foster, lyricist Susan Birkenhead and book writer Bob Martin. For Rogers, who was in her early twenties, playing the title role was a lot. A musical theater standout, Rogers had already worked with Mitchell in the musical Becoming Nancy. But until that point, BOOP! eluded her. She had auditioned for the role about seven times yet couldn't land it. 'It was clear Jerry and DB Bonds, our associate director, wanted me. But I had to prove to them that I could handle it,' says Rogers. 'I believe it was about inhabiting myself. I was lacking the confidence needed to play the role and carry the show.' During one work session with Bonds he told her, "You have to go in there and show them what you are doing is worthy.' Looking back, Rogers sees that they knew she was capable of playing Betty Boop before she believed in herself. 'It was basically them trying to convince me that I really wanted this. I had to own it,' she says. 'And when I finally did, that is when I got the role.' But Rogers got to own the role and more. A tap-dancing triple threat, she has a voice as smooth as honey and a belt that brings down the house. She creates a layered Betty Boop that is vulnerable and sweet, yet very powerful and smart. The company also includes Faith Prince, Ainsley Melham, Erich Bergen, Stephen DeRosa, Anastacia McCleskey, Angelica Hale, Phillip Huber, and Aubie Merrylees. 'I love how full of life and how caring Betty is. She is so smart and vivacious,' says Rogers. She is also drawn to Betty's ability to be so nurturing. "Throughout the story, she goes on a journey to find something that she feels is missing in her life. But along the way, she makes sure to stop and take care of people around her,' she says. 'She never sees this as a burden or roadblock. She is willing to give so much of herself to the people around her. Betty views the world in such a beautiful way, it really inspires me to live my own life just a little bit happier and with more optimism.' A passion for performing was in Rogers' DNA. She remembers her late father singing jazz tunes when she was a little girl while her mother adored show tunes. 'My father loved to sing jazz music. He would make up his own songs that felt like their own standards,and he always wanted me to sing,' she says. "My mother was a big musical theater girl who loved Wicked and Rent. And those were my two favorite musicals.' Rogers begged her mother to let her audition for their community theater production of Peter Pan at Milford Performing Arts Center in Milford, Massachusetts, where she was living at the time. (She also grew up in Richmond, Texas, outside Houston.) Playing homage to Wicked, she sang 'Popular' and was cast in the ensemble playing a member of Tiger Lily's tribe. 'Instead of being Native Americans, we were hippies,' says Rogers. She vividly remembers her mother getting the call that they wanted her seven-year-old self for the show. 'I was so excited, I ran around the house, losing my mind,' says Rogers. 'And ever since, I've been hooked.' Throughout the years Rogers continued to do theater, and in her senior year of high school, Rogers was cast as the Witch in Into The Woods. The part won her the Tommy Tune award, given to students who excel in theater in the greater Houston area. That also gave her the opportunity to participate Jimmy Awards, which celebrates the best musical theater talent from around the nation. Rogers made it to the finals. 'When I won the Tommy Tune Award I was so shocked. I was so sure that another girl, who I'm still friends with and was amazing, was going to win,' she says. But after that accolade and the Jimmy Awards she knew that this was her path. Rogers was accepted into the Manhattan School of Music, a conservatory in New York City, to study musical theater. After two years, a professional career beckoned. She was cast in the musical Becoming Nancy, directed by Jerry Mitchell, who would later cast her in BOOP!. 'That is when things really began for me,' says Rogers, who played Gretchen Wieners in the first national tour of Mean Girls. (From left) Stephen DeRosa (Grampy), Jasmine Amy Rogers (Betty Boop), Phillip Huber (Pudgy) As much as she always longed for it, she didn't know if playing a title role like Betty Boop would actually be within her reach. 'When I was little, I wondered if one day I would get to be Wendy in Peter Pan, or Cinderella in Cinderella,' says Rogers. 'And here I am doing that. It was always a dream of mine, and the fact that I'm here doing it is really special.' Rogers hopes people feel that sense of joy that she feels at each performance. 'This show is joy personified. And I hope that we are bringing joy to people in a time where joy feels very sparse sometimes,' she says. 'And I hope people walk away feeling uplifted, loved, ready to love and with a smile on their face.' The cast of BOOP! The Musical Jasmine Amy Rogers as Betty Boop
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The ultimate guide to the best museums in San Diego, California
San Diego's epicenter for arts and culture is Balboa Park. This 1,200-acre urban oasis is home to 18 museums (and dozens of gardens, attractions, and fun venues). Visit the traditional institutions here—or swing over to the recently added Comic-Con Museum. In case you didn't know, Balboa Park shares a zip code with downtown San Diego, and the city's urban core has its own set of eclectic offerings, like the nautical USS Midway Museum and the Maritime Museum. With so many museums in the city, museophiles can pare down their options with this helpful list of must-see museums in San Diego. (Related: The essential guide to visiting San Diego.) Comic-Con International is an annual mega-convention of 130,000 sci-fi, superhero, and cosplay fanatics who flock to downtown San Diego in late July. The convention has a 55-year legacy, but the Comic-Con Museum opened in Balboa Park in 2021. Year-round, visitors can wander through exhibits like 'Becoming Betty Boop,' showcasing a century of the history and evolution of iconic cartoon characters. Journey through time and space during Comic-Con at the 'Doctor Who Worlds of Wonder: Where Science Meets Fiction' exhibit, which combines real-life science with the science fiction universe of British hero, Doctor Who. Be sure to visit the Monster Vault. To better reflect inclusivity, the San Diego Museum of Man changed its name to Museum of Us in 2020. Visitors will spot the museum's 198-foot-tall, domed California Tower well before entering Balboa Park. Guests can tour the tower, whose elements are reminiscent of a Spanish-Colonial church. It was also featured prominently in Orson Welles' classic movie Citizen Kane. The museum focuses on cultural resources from more than 200 indigenous communities from all over the world. (Related: 10 experiences families shouldn't miss in San Diego.) The Fleet Science Center offers mental stimulation for all ages. There's a good chance your visit will coincide with a school field trip of students excitedly exploring more than 100 hands-on, interactive exhibits. The Fleet is also home to the immersive Eugene Heikoff and Marilyn James Heikoff Giant Dome Theater. In Balboa Park,you can catch an IMAX movie on a 76-foot wraparound movie screen. Explore space with a 360-degree view in 'The Sky Tonight' show. Trace the roots of breaking gravitational bonds in displays of historical aviation and space flight technology. The San Diego Air & Space Museum has a rare collection of models and some mint condition aircrafts. Go back in time to the Montgolfier brothers' 1783 hot-air balloon. Imagine the bravery of the 1920s barnstormer plane pilots, or inspect the military aircraft of the Vietnam War and World War II. The museum's space-age tech displays are continually evolving. (Related: The best restuarants in San Diego.) The unique, peace-minded House of Pacific Relations is a consortium of 33 International Cottages representing different world cultures. From Germany and France to Israel and Palestine, the cottages are arranged in the middle of Balboa Park like a village. On weekends, the cottages are open to visitors, who can learn about specific cultures, histories, and traditions. Plan ahead and look for special afternoon programs focusing on food, music, dance, costumes, and arts and crafts. San Diego is a seaside city with 70 miles of coastline along the Pacific Ocean. Just blocks from each other, the USS Midway Museum and the Maritime Museum are floating museums moored downtown along the Embarcadero walkway. The USS Midway is a decommissioned aircraft carrier, with a flight deck filled with 26 restored carrier aircraft, from jet fighters to helicopters. The Maritime Museum is a collection of antique vessels, starring the 150-year-old, three-masted sailing ship Star of India. Other attractions include the steam ferry Berkeley, the USS Dolphin submarine, and the HMS Surprise—a replica of the Royal Navy frigate from the movie Master & Commander. (Related: Don't leave San Diego without trying these 9 experiences.) It's all about the kids at The New Children's Museum. Imagination meets creativity with activity-oriented art installations, with names like 'Wobbleland' and 'Disco Rainbow Cave.' Virtual art experiences also aim to be fun, like 'Sketch Aquarium' and 'Wonder Sound.' Children are allowed to get hands on at the Clay Studio and a Paint Studio that features a large-scale sculpture named 'The Loving Dragon.' Downtown's WNDR Museum is a high-tech, adult version of an interactive children's venue. WNDR is, of course, the word 'wonder' without vowels. You'll want to engage with the wonder of innovative displays that include: A multi-sensory Light Floor that glows wherever you leave a footprint. And a Quantum Mirror room, where 150 mirrors create an infinity reflection billed as an ode to our obsession with screens and the need for attention on social media. (Related: An neighborhood guide to San Diego.) A public facility in La Jolla, Birch Aquarium at Scripps is also the public outreach center for Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. With a focus on marine life, the aquarium houses more than 380 species. Visitors flock to the Blue Beach shark and ray habitat, as well as the Tide-Pool Plaza, with close-up views of hermit crabs, lobsters, starfish, and more. The colorful Hall of Fishes is just finishing a renovation, set to reopen as Living Seas on May 22, 2025. The flagship La Jolla location of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego has newly expanded galleries, exhibitions, and a sculpture garden. With idyllic, real-life coastal views of the Pacific Ocean, the MCASD recently expanded its collections of land and seascapes. Outside on the museum grounds, the Edwards Sculpture Garden is enlivened by numerous installations, including the 'Displaced Person' garden planter and a 'Crossroads' sculpture–a combination of city-specific directional arrows and signs with witty maxims, such as 'Words Without Thoughts Never to Heaven Go.' (Related: How families, culture hounds, and adventurers can spend the perfect day in San Diego.) Ron Donoho is a San Diego-based freelancer whose San Diego Sun website focuses on downtown news.
Boston Globe
16-04-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Step inside the colorful, curious, fantasy world of R.I.'s Pretty Snake
Advertisement A giant cut-out Edward Scissorhands takes up residence inside Pretty Snake in Providence, R.I. Jackie Delamatre Inside, vintage items decorated every corner — a Betty Boop wall light here, a life-sized cut-out of Edward Scissorhands there — and the Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up On a mannequin near the door, a coat with a style best described as 'psychedelic Muppet' greeted visitors as if it were the shop mascot. Known by employees as the ' Advertisement As the customers streamed in, Segal, who grew up in Framingham but now lives in Fox Point, laid low behind the cash register, quietly taking in their reactions. Across from him, at the accessories display, two sisters, 7 and 9 years old, were going gaga over a pair of sunglasses embedded with googly eyes. Their grandmother lives only a few blocks away, and they visit often. The oldest said she liked the store's 'novelty' — and, perhaps sensing its origins in crafting, proudly shared that she is learning to cross-stitch. 'Isn't this a vision?' said Jessica Navas of Providence, wearing shiny silver boots and oversized glasses. 'It's the most positive fever dream … I love seeing people walk in, especially kids. Their eyes pop because we're in an Amazon world, and this is a hotbed of creativity.' Joseph Aaron Segal, owner of Pretty Snake in Providence, R.I., wears one of his designs called the 'floating fruit shirt." Courtesy of Joseph Aaron Segal Segal, in a flannel from PacSun, carpenter pants, and an old t-shirt made by a local artist, said the space had sprung from his dreams: 'I was trying to think of what I always wished stores were like, and that was how I designed it — to try to become my own fantasy world.' This 'fantasy world' is the home of Segal's fashion brand of the same name, which is inspired by his love of 'kitsch and oddities and curiosities.' Indeed, he said, he wants his products to be 'their own curiosities.' One popular cotton button-up, for instance, came out of a trip to a cryptozoology museum in Portland, Maine, and Many of Segal's 'curiosities' result from experimentations with materials and techniques. In his role at RISD, Segal teaches subjects such as industrial knitting that give him access to fabrics and technology and allow him to 'play around.' When he found himself in possession of some antique chenille embroidery machines, for instance, he repaired them and began to Advertisement Joseph Aaron Segal started the Pretty Snake brand in 2009 before he competed on Project Runway. Jackie Delamatre The brand has grown over time. He founded it just after he received his graduate degree in textiles from RISD in 2009 and before his time on Project Runway. As his product line expanded, he outgrew the venues he'd sold in before, craft shows and art fairs like RuPaul's DragCon. ('I was already making outfits for local drag queens,' so it was 'the right audience.') He also wanted to introduce more high-end products, but to sell those, he felt he needed a place where customers could see them in person. 'That's what I've always wanted,' he said. 'That's the goal of the store.' Since it opened in July 2024, the store has become much more than just a place for people to try things on. It has become integral to Segal's own creative process, a space that pushes him 'to make things that are bigger and bolder and even more conceptual and elevated' — and 'to keep trying new stuff.' A muralist painted the ceiling inside Pretty Snake with a blue sky, which features several animals in between the clouds, including a snake. Jackie Delamatre None of that would have been possible without Segal's village. A muralist friend painted his ceiling with a blue sky in which, hidden in the negative space between clouds, are several animals (including, of course, a snake). A furniture-maker pal re-fashioned fluted columns from a house that had been torn down into crooked, almost animated sculptures. And Segal has been adding layers as he goes to create a multi-sensory environment. A custom fragrance made by his studio neighbor adds an olfactory element, while a soundtrack of electro-pop, 'gothy dark wave,' and technical 'nerdy' music introduces the auditory. Advertisement The store may represent Segal's dreams, but it has also forced him to encounter reality — in a good way. He used to design more conceptually, he said. 'I arrive at more interesting results when I'm not over-worrying or thinking about what someone wants.' "I want people to want the stuff and feel comfortable and confident in it," Joseph Aaron Segal said of his designs at Pretty Snake in Providence, R.I. Jackie Delamatre But watching people try on his clothes has taught him to keep in mind which silhouettes look best on the body. It was the same lesson he learned when Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, co-hosts of Project Runway, criticized his boxy look on the episode in which he was eliminated. 'I think I was stubborn in a way. It has to look good on a person at the end of the day,' Segal said. 'And I want people to want the stuff and feel comfortable and confident in it.' What advice does Segal have for other Providence-based creatives looking to become entrepreneurs? He demurred, but then finally offered: 'If it makes you happy, keep doing it. If you're getting some kind of joy or if it's allowing you to do what you want to do creatively, then you're doing it right.'
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Boop!' Broadway Review: First Barbie, Now Betty Gets Dragged Into the 21 Century
You've won 16 Grammy Awards and now want to write your first Broadway musical. What source material do you pick? There are so many great novels, movies, straight plays and TV shows out there to choose from. David Foster, the composer of such hit songs as 'I Will Always Love You' and 'The Power of Love,' chose a cartoon character born in the Great Depression. You might remember Betty Boop if you're really old. She's the curvaceous icon from the 1930s that gave little boys boners before they knew what sex was all about. 'Boop!' is the new musical by Foster that opened Monday at the Broadhurst Theatre. It's 'boop-oop-a-doop' for a show that needs a good spritz of Pooph. If you're too young to know about Betty Boop, you will have seen movies that tell this basic story much better. In 'Barbie,' the Barbie and Ken dolls are transported to the real world where she becomes a feminist and he becomes a male chauvinistic pig. In 'Pleasantville,' a 'Father Knows Best' family is transported to the real world when they discover sex. In 'The Brady Bunch Movie,' the famous TV family walks out the front door to be transported into the real world of violence and corruption. When Betty Boop leaves her 1930s cartoon world in 'Boop!,' she's transported (don't ask how) to a Comic Con convention in New York City where she discovers … color. She also discovers some of the ugliest costumes, by Gregg Barnes, that have ever graced a Broadway stage. After singing 'In Color,' Betty makes friends and falls in love immediately with a man (Ainsley Melham, being oddly remote) not in comic book drag. Betty greases her way into the future, as well as the real world, as if she had just bathed in Vaseline. There's no conflict. She just spreads her joy to a city that appears to be doing fine without her. Foster and lyricist Susan Birkenhead load 'Boop!' with so many anthems they appear to be auditioning for some new 'I Love NY' ad campaign. As for Foster's tunes, you will leave the Broadhurst humming them, because you've heard them all before, whether it is caterwauling gospel or anemic jazz or the ubiquitous female power ballad. It is questionable whether anyone involved with this musical ever watched a Betty Boop cartoon. Birkenhead's lyrics describe the newly neutered character on stage: 'She is strong, she is smart, open mind, open heart' … and later, 'She has spunk, she has spine, she's a saint.' Sorry, Betty Boop was one hot number. Where's the part about her being a great lay? That's why all those barnyard critters were chasing her around the hayloft. No less an entity than the Hays Office censored Betty Boop back in 1935, making her a far more demure and less sexy character. 'Boop!' has clearly taken its orders from a Depression-era right-wing censor. Playing Betty, Jasmine Amy Rogers isn't given much to do other than squeal cutely. There's a reason for her new blandness, and that's because Betty, like Barbie before her, is now a feminist. As Bob Martin's meandering and relentlessly unfunny book does manage to make evident, the cartoon character is known for hitting other cartoon characters over the head with all sorts of lethal objects. No problem. They're cartoons. On stage, it's a different story. One of the musical's subplots involves a blowhard who's running to be mayor of New York. This politician makes an odd brief appearance in Act 1, but gets much more stage time when Betty joins his campaign in Act 2. Spreading her usual cheer, she gives the guy a lot of good press. Playing that creep, Erich Bergen singlehandedly turns 'Boop!' into something worth watching after nearly two hours of total tedium. Because he's stealing her show, Betty hits him over the head with a desk lamp. He's knocked out cold and never recovers, only to be rolled off stage in an office chair. This is feminism? When a man clobbers a woman into unconsciousness, even on the stage, he goes to jail. In 'Boop!,' he's the one who ends up in an orange jump suit for the curtain call. Jerry Mitchell directs and choreographs. I thought the song 'In Color, set at the Comic Con convention and populated with Marvel-like icons, was this theater season's worst staged musical number. But no, that comes just ahead of intermission when Betty visits Times Square to meet other cartoon icons there. It's difficult to say what's more embarrassing: the people in Disney outfits out on the street or the chorus at the Broadhurst in costumes that look just as seedy and smelly. Pooph, anyone? The post 'Boop!' Broadway Review: First Barbie, Now Betty Gets Dragged Into the 21 Century appeared first on TheWrap.
