Displaying items by tag: Faith Prince

I remember Betty Boop the cartoon character because she was my mom's favorite female cartoon as the sexy, saucy 1930's flapper who had men chasing her around town in her voluptuous, tight-fitting dresses - and this wonderfully staged musical does a brilliant job in bringing her to life! Jasmine Amy Rogers as Betty Boop is a star on her way to Broadway with her outstanding vocals, solid dancing skills and an air of innocence mixed with womanly wisdom that gives the entire story a warm grounded presence despite the cartoon's previously conceived air head version of her. 

In BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical, Betty gets to time travel from the black and white cartoon world she lives in to 2023 real world New York city in full color where she feels herself to be both "Real and Free!" There is a slight resemblance in plot there to the Barbie movie when a fictional character from a sexist TV or toy world becomes "real” in today's much different, progressing world - and this plot is also very well executed. People of all ages will identify with that feeling of having their lives go from blah, gray days to bright rainbow colors with one exciting leap of faith! 

When arriving in New York via time travel Boop lands at Comic Con and luckily meets her mate, Dwayne, played with flair by Ainsley Anthony Melham, a struggling young jazz musician with whom she falls in love. Together they perform some fantastic duets like "Why Look Around the Corner" in which the two lovers decide to stop waiting for what "might be around the corner" and decide to love each other in that very moment before their worlds are separated forever. Melham also sings the passionate and exuberant “She Knocks Me Out!" a song that describes how falling in love with Boop at first sight has knocked him off his feet with love for her and all her lively energy and sexual beauty causing him to fall hopelessly in love.

The exciting score by composer David Foster and lyricist Susan Birkenhead includes several hit songs, some of which include "Something to Shout About" sung by Rogers. In the well-performed number, Boop describes that after experiencing both her cartoon world and unrequited love in the real world that she is still waiting to find something really thrilling in life to really live her life to its fullest and not for other "human causes" like that of the politician Raymond Demarest played with great humor and jazz style by Erich Bergen. Demarest, a former sanitation worker now running for office, tries to use Boop’s popularity to con citizens of New York into voting for him so he can con them into using his "Doo Doo Solid Waste System". Nor is Boop looking to find more fame or money in the real world. In fact, from the beginning of the show her character expresses her deep desire to be somewhere, anywhere where she is "not famous" and is free to be her own unique self. But guess what, she's still as famous as ever in 2023, ninety years later - a true Comic Con star. 

This show has everything we’d hope to see in a big stage production. In Boop! The Betty Boop Musical aka The Boop-Oop-A Doosical, the full stage of excellent dancers, singers, and actors swirl to life with brilliant color. The creative costume design is credited to Gregg Barnes while David Rockwell has designed a huge and constantly changing set that dazzles the eye and enhances the storytelling, with equally colorful dynamic and complex lighting by Philip S. Rosenberg. The show also includes some real eye-popping New York-style hoofing comprising of full cast tap dancing numbers by the talented director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell that rival the Rockettes. This fast-paced, musical, and visual gem also gets a lift thanks to wonderful performances by Angelica Hale as Trisha, Boop’s newfound teenage friend in the real world, Tony Award Winner Faith Prince as Valentina and Stephen DeRosa as the highly and overly animated, Grampy.

Phillip Huber operates the one puppet in the show, Pudgy, Boop’s chubby, white Maltese puppy with adorable huge black eyes who time travels as well. This is a very cute bit of comic relief and the whole audience enjoys this little treat of excellently done puppetry.

Though a fan favorite for decades, let’s face it, the Betty Boop cartoon was littered with discriminatory, narrow-minded views of women. But, thankfully, the problem of the sexist subtext of the times when this black and white cartoon was written in originally, which has survived in cult pop culture, is finally resolved in this fantastic new musical. Upon returning to her own world, Boop’s eyes, now opened from her visit to today’s real world, the 1930’s cartoon starlet tells the director of her "talkie shorts" that she will NOT allow those plotlines to ever be shot again if they include leering men chasing her around desks only to be hit by her with a frying pan. 

BOOP! is based on an old cartoon yes, but its cast and producers combine new ideas about love and womanhood with modern and classic dance numbers that fill the stage with constant movement. Boop’s show stopping and catchy songs, belted out with great range, power and joy by the fabulous Jasmine Amy Rogers, are the Boop oop a doop! 

I highly recommend this sparkling, upbeat World Premiere production for audiences of all ages! 

BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical runs through December 24th at the CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St. For tickets and/or more show information, visit broadwayinchicago.com.

What's better than a good revenge story? How about a revenge comedy? Better yet, how about a revenge comedy musical? First Wives Club is all of that and then some. Partially driven by a Motown soundtrack, this glitzy musical taken from the 1996 film starring Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler presents many memorable numbers - some from hits we all know like “Reach Out…I’ll Be There” and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” and some written just for this production.

When three housewives reunite years later after their college girlfriend commits suicide due to an unfaithful husband, they soon realize they have something in common - all their husbands are cheating. Joining together, the three decide to form The First Wives Club and exact revenge upon their unfaithful spouses in bold fashion.

First Wives Club is bolstered by an incredibly talented cast. Christine Sherrill is lights out as “Elise Acton” while Broadway legend Faith Prince and Carmen Cusack also make a huge splash as gal pals “Brenda Cushman” and “Annie Walker”. Sherrill's velvety smooth voice stands out as she belts out one number after the next, especially noteworthy in “Old Me New Me”. Not to be overshadowed, Prince also displays her vocal prowess and even gets big house applause during “My Heart Wants to Try One More Time”. Patrick Richwood is tremendous as the flamboyant “Duane Fergusson” while Sean Murphy Cullen’s physical comedy Jackie Gleason-esque as the cheating, but loveable, “Morty Cushman”. The ever changing set was almost a show in itself. Colorful and dazzling, the set was massive as it was convertible, seamlessly changing from one world to another.

Gracing the red carpet to kick off the new Broadway-bound musical were musical contributors and Motown legends Brian Holland, Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier, The Four Tops’ Duke Fakir, Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas and two-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole along with five-time Emmy Award winner Linda Bloodworth Thomason.

The story is light with just the right amount of campy humor and the dancing and singing fully entertaining to one catchy number after another. With such likeable main characters (three women in their mid-forties) it is easy to see this production finding Mamma Mia-like success. Wonderfully directed by Simon Phillips, First Wives Club: The Musical is a laugh out loud, feel good winner. Revenge is sweet but even sweeter when done by a trio of women that are so much fun to watch.

First Wives Club: The Musical is being performed at The Oriental Theatre through March 29^th before it hits Broadway. For tickets and/or more show information call (800) 775-2000 or visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.