Boop the Musical Review!
Saw Boop tonight and I gotta say I don’t understand the mixed reviews; it was amazing!!!
First, the actors were so energetic and on the entire time; the energy they brought was contagious & you couldn’t help but love them. Angelica Hale was an absolute joy on stage, her smile was infectious and her voice was just amazing. I haven’t seen her since Americas Got Talent but my god her voice has come so far; I can see her becoming a big Broadway star with her talent and positive attitude.
Jasmine & Ainsley are an absolute powerhouse of a duo as Betty & Dwayne. I don’t understand why people think their romance is underdeveloped. Pacing wise it reminds me of Jack’s romance in Newsies; it’s a very quick development but it makes sense & I do feel that it works with & adds to the story. My friend came with me & we both agreed that Ainsley steals the show with his solo song in Act 2; his voice is absolutely amazing & he DELIVERS emotionally when he sings. I consider his character a welcome addition to Boop & I quite enjoyed his romance with Betty. Little side note: Betty’s song “Something to Shout About” in act two was visually and audibly beautiful. Jasmine’s voice & vibrato are just perfect & the staging ( idk how to describe it but it was like a black background with what looked like a bunch of stars ) was just lovely.
Same for Grampy & Valentina; most reviews I saw said that their romance should be cut since it’s underdeveloped but my friend & I thought it was incredibly cute. Sure, their romance really only develops through two songs & I do feel they could’ve used one or two more, but I think their characters make sense together. Spoiler here but I think it’s incredibly wholesome that the two kept loving each other after 40 years apart. I think that as a side-plot it serves its purpose & again adds to the show in a positive way. I feel like Grampy serves as a sort of predecessor to Betty & shows her that her & Dwayne can be together even if they’re from different dimensions.
Phillip Huber STEALS the show with his puppeteering skills whenever he & Pudgy are on stage. I had seen a picture of how many different mechanisms are on the puppet to make it move & its astounding how natural he made the movements. It genuinely felt like watching an animatronic dog instead of a puppet; he had Pudgy doing choreo in a few of the songs & it was just amazing. The amount of laughs he got was demonstrative of how much he stole the show because another character would be delivering a line & the audience would be looking at & laughing at the way Pudgy was interacting with the set. This man single-handedly made me respect puppeteers in the course of two & a half hours.
Now, the effects: OMG. Spoilers ahead but there was one scene at the beginning where Grampy puts a Turkey on the table & then covers it up for it to be transformed into an ice cream sundae ( or at least it looked like that from where I was lol ); this was only one of the moments that got an audible gasp from the audience. The machine Betty uses to travel dimensions utilizes lighting & fog effects to make it look like she up & disappears from the stage & then in act 2 they utilized the fog again with Dwayne ( too big a spoiler to give plot lol ) & that moment got a lot of gasps because it looked like he literally jumped out onto the stage from nowhere. I was actually a huge fan of the projections. I saw mixed reviews on them but I felt like they added to the show & were incredibly fitting for how much spectacle there should be in Boop.
The costumes were another highlight; if you’re a fan of sparkles and a lot of color like me than this is the show for you. Spoiler but act 2 has a big dance number where the ensemble wears costumes with black and white on one side and vibrant color on the other. I’d say this song was one of the audience favorites because it got a LOT of cheers. Betty’s wardrobe is so cute; I love love love the style of her dresses & she does have several costume changes throughout the show. I’m really happy to see how much they utilize color in this show; not only does it go with the story but it’s just nice to see such bright costumes since I feel like a lot of shows don’t call for a huge spectacle with outfits lately.
Honestly, I really have no complaints about this show. I was pleasantly surprised because I thought that Jasmine would only have one or two songs from the reviews I’ve seen but she was very heavily featured in most songs & there are one or two more that are just her and the ensemble as well as several duets. My friend and I were in row S in the orchestra so we did have the overhang from the mezzanine but it didn’t really block anything out. It kind of cut off the top of the stage but I didn’t feel like it ever interfered with our view of the stage / projections. Tbh I went into the show with rather low expectations from the reviews I had seen but I would see it again; I’d say the show was a solid 7/10. I wouldn’t go into it expecting something deep & emotional but I think that as an entertaining, wholesome story Boop is a very solid show.
A few miscellaneous notes: the Broadhurst is a little cramped. The seats are a little closer together than you’d like & could be on more of a slope but luckily the seat in front of me was empty so I had no trouble seeing. My friend did have someone in front of her so she had to lean over towards me & the empty space at a few points to see. If you can afford to get seats a few rows closer I’d say it’s worth it. The bathroom situation is pretty meh so I’d make sure you go before lol; there’s only one bathroom and you have to go downstairs to get there so it might be hard to get back before intermission ends if you’re in the mezzanine.
They do have a really good drink — I think it was called the big Apple martini?? — & it comes with a little plastic Boop cup but it was $66 for two of them so be ready. It’s normal pricing for Broadway but still insane. There was one lady in front of us that was obviously a huge fan — she had gotten a Boop sweatshirt and Pudgy plushy pre-show & I saw her crying a few times — & she honestly made my experience like ten times better. I think that seeing how much she loved it made me look at the show a bit differently. Like yeah, for me it was mostly just entertaining, but there are people out there who absolutely love Betty Boop and would love seeing the themes of this show. A lot of the plot was Betty struggling to define herself as her own person rather than just a symbol or a cartoon; I feel like there are probably a lot of people out there that might need to hear that they’re more than what others see.
I could go on for ages but I’ll end it by saying Boop was a pleasant surprise. If you’re on the fence about seeing it like I was because you’ve seen some mixed reviews, go & see it! My friend only came for me & even she left saying that it was an incredibly cute show & that she actually really enjoyed it. I still don’t know that it’ll be some emotional, life-changing moment for most people, but it’s absolutely a fun & entertaining show that’s worth seeing at least once!!
Saw Boop tonight and I gotta say I don’t understand the mixed reviews; it was amazing!!!
First, the actors were so energetic and on the entire time; the energy they brought was contagious & you couldn’t help but love them. Angelica Hale was an absolute joy on stage, her smile was infectious and her voice was just amazing. I haven’t seen her since Americas Got Talent but my god her voice has come so far; I can see her becoming a big Broadway star with her talent and positive attitude.
Jasmine & Ainsley are an absolute powerhouse of a duo as Betty & Dwayne. I don’t understand why people think their romance is underdeveloped. Pacing wise it reminds me of Jack’s romance in Newsies; it’s a very quick development but it makes sense & I do feel that it works with & adds to the story. My friend came with me & we both agreed that Ainsley steals the show with his solo song in Act 2; his voice is absolutely amazing & he DELIVERS emotionally when he sings. I consider his character a welcome addition to Boop & I quite enjoyed his romance with Betty. Little side note: Betty’s song “Something to Shout About” in act two was visually and audibly beautiful. Jasmine’s voice & vibrato are just perfect & the staging ( idk how to describe it but it was like a black background with what looked like a bunch of stars ) was just lovely.
Same for Grampy & Valentina; most reviews I saw said that their romance should be cut since it’s underdeveloped but my friend & I thought it was incredibly cute. Sure, their romance really only develops through two songs & I do feel they could’ve used one or two more, but I think their characters make sense together. Spoiler here but I think it’s incredibly wholesome that the two kept loving each other after 40 years apart. I think that as a side-plot it serves its purpose & again adds to the show in a positive way. I feel like Grampy serves as a sort of predecessor to Betty & shows her that her & Dwayne can be together even if they’re from different dimensions.
Phillip Huber STEALS the show with his puppeteering skills whenever he & Pudgy are on stage. I had seen a picture of how many different mechanisms are on the puppet to make it move & its astounding how natural he made the movements. It genuinely felt like watching an animatronic dog instead of a puppet; he had Pudgy doing choreo in a few of the songs & it was just amazing. The amount of laughs he got was demonstrative of how much he stole the show because another character would be delivering a line & the audience would be looking at & laughing at the way Pudgy was interacting with the set. This man single-handedly made me respect puppeteers in the course of two & a half hours.
Now, the effects: OMG. Spoilers ahead but there was one scene at the beginning where Grampy puts a Turkey on the table & then covers it up for it to be transformed into an ice cream sundae ( or at least it looked like that from where I was lol ); this was only one of the moments that got an audible gasp from the audience. The machine Betty uses to travel dimensions utilizes lighting & fog effects to make it look like she up & disappears from the stage & then in act 2 they utilized the fog again with Dwayne ( too big a spoiler to give plot lol ) & that moment got a lot of gasps because it looked like he literally jumped out onto the stage from nowhere. I was actually a huge fan of the projections. I saw mixed reviews on them but I felt like they added to the show & were incredibly fitting for how much spectacle there should be in Boop.
The costumes were another highlight; if you’re a fan of sparkles and a lot of color like me than this is the show for you. Spoiler but act 2 has a big dance number where the ensemble wears costumes with black and white on one side and vibrant color on the other. I’d say this song was one of the audience favorites because it got a LOT of cheers. Betty’s wardrobe is so cute; I love love love the style of her dresses & she does have several costume changes throughout the show. I’m really happy to see how much they utilize color in this show; not only does it go with the story but it’s just nice to see such bright costumes since I feel like a lot of shows don’t call for a huge spectacle with outfits lately.
Honestly, I really have no complaints about this show. I was pleasantly surprised because I thought that Jasmine would only have one or two songs from the reviews I’ve seen but she was very heavily featured in most songs & there are one or two more that are just her and the ensemble as well as several duets. My friend and I were in row S in the orchestra so we did have the overhang from the mezzanine but it didn’t really block anything out. It kind of cut off the top of the stage but I didn’t feel like it ever interfered with our view of the stage / projections. Tbh I went into the show with rather low expectations from the reviews I had seen but I would see it again; I’d say the show was a solid 7/10. I wouldn’t go into it expecting something deep & emotional but I think that as an entertaining, wholesome story Boop is a very solid show.
A few miscellaneous notes: the Broadhurst is a little cramped. The seats are a little closer together than you’d like & could be on more of a slope but luckily the seat in front of me was empty so I had no trouble seeing. My friend did have someone in front of her so she had to lean over towards me & the empty space at a few points to see. If you can afford to get seats a few rows closer I’d say it’s worth it. The bathroom situation is pretty meh so I’d make sure you go before lol; there’s only one bathroom and you have to go downstairs to get there so it might be hard to get back before intermission ends if you’re in the mezzanine.
They do have a really good drink — I think it was called the big Apple martini?? — & it comes with a little plastic Boop cup but it was $66 for two of them so be ready. It’s normal pricing for Broadway but still insane. There was one lady in front of us that was obviously a huge fan — she had gotten a Boop sweatshirt and Pudgy plushy pre-show & I saw her crying a few times — & she honestly made my experience like ten times better. I think that seeing how much she loved it made me look at the show a bit differently. Like yeah, for me it was mostly just entertaining, but there are people out there who absolutely love Betty Boop and would love seeing the themes of this show. A lot of the plot was Betty struggling to define herself as her own person rather than just a symbol or a cartoon; I feel like there are probably a lot of people out there that might need to hear that they’re more than what others see.
I could go on for ages but I’ll end it by saying Boop was a pleasant surprise. If you’re on the fence about seeing it like I was because you’ve seen some mixed reviews, go & see it! My friend only came for me & even she left saying that it was an incredibly cute show & that she actually really enjoyed it. I still don’t know that it’ll be some emotional, life-changing moment for most people, but it’s absolutely a fun & entertaining show that’s worth seeing at least once!!