One actress is a newcomer making her Broadway debut after winning raves out of town. The other is a Tony-winning favorite, back on Broadway for the first time in almost a decade. Together, they’re part of the team bringing the enduring animated icon Betty Boop to contemporary New York City in “Boop! The Musical.”
Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:
“Even though she’s a cartoon character from the 1930s, Betty has always been so ahead of her time,” said Jasmine Amy Rogers, the young performer who plays Betty on Broadway after wowing critics in the show’s tryout in Chicago. “Every woman can find a way to connect to her because she’s universal. She’s tough, she’s sweet, she’s caring, she’s smart, she’s so playful and adventurous. I think there’s a piece of all of us that lives inside of Betty.”
Rogers appeared on the latest episode of “Stagecraft,” Variety’s theater podcast, with her co-star Faith Prince, the celebrated Broadway veteran who won a Tony for her performance in the 1992 revival of “Guys and Dolls.” Prince has her own connection to Betty: “My brother used to tell me my voice is just like Betty Boop’s!”
In “Boop!,” Prince plays a new character created for the musical — a modern-day astrophysicist named Valentina — who meets Betty when the cartoon character leaves her black-and-white world to visit full-color, modern-day New York. She’s had a hand in shaping Valentina as the musical has developed.
“Well, I wrote a five page email to the director, Jerry Mitchell, about my character after Chicago,” Prince recalled with a laugh. “I have a lot to say about Valentina, and I really advocated for her.”
For Rogers, the challenge lies in bringing an enduring, two-dimensional character to full theatrical life. “Half of it is being able to put Betty in situations that she was never able to be in before, and then the other half of the work is bringing my own experience as a woman to Betty,” she said. “As the show goes on, she finds more depth in how she’s able to feel about things. It’s so personal to me because I get to bring Jasmine to it. I think that’s what brings her to life the most.”
In their conversation on “Stagecraft,” Rogers and Prince also discussed the classic Broadway homages woven into “Boop!” and how Prince has offered own experiences and insights to Rogers and other younger members of the cast. “I’m here if they need me, because I’ve been through some of these things before,” Prince said.
For instance: Prince shared when, in the course of a career, an actor can expect those pre-performance nerves to go away. “Honestly, I think the nerves get worse!” Prince admitted good-naturedly. “You just have to keep finding ways to use them. They’re your rocket fuel.”
To hear the entire conversation, listen at the link above or download and subscribe to “Stagecraft” on podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the Broadway Podcast Network. New episodes of “Stagecraft” are released every other week.
