Jasmine Amy Rogers Shares Why Playing Betty Boop On Broadway Is So Meaningful
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The Tony nominee says portraying the iconic character, particularly as a Black woman, has been a “life-changing” experience.
Ninety-five years after her inception, Betty Boop has made her way to the Broadway stage in a musical with a breakout star at its center.
“Boop! The Musical,” now playing at New York’s Broadhurst Theatre, follows Betty Boop (played by Jasmine Amy Rogers, making her Broadway debut) as she magically tumbles out of her whimsical, black-and-white cartoon world and into present-day New York while on a quest to find her true self.
Naturally, playful hijinks ensure as Betty adjusts to her new home. She also catches the eye of a dashing musician, Dwayne (Ainsley Melham), but the secret of her true identity threatens to thwart their budding romance.
Historians have long disputed Betty Boop’s origins. Though animator Max Fleischer drew her as a white woman, the character is believed to have been inspired by Black female entertainers of the 1920s, including Chicago-born singer Esther Jones, who went by the name Baby Esther.
For Rogers, reconnecting the character to her Jazz Age roots ― particularly as a Black actor ― in the musical has been a “life-changing” experience.
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