Video: Jerry Mitchell Discusses Developing BOOP! THE BETTY BOOP MUSICAL on ABC7 Chicago

Jerry Mitchell stopped by ABC 7 Chicago to discuss developing BOOP: The Betty Boop Musical in the Windy City.

In the interview, which features rehearsal and production footage, Mitchell revealed details from the show: "Betty Boop, in our story, she travels to find what's missing, and she finds it," Mitchell said. "She has to go back to her real world, and her real world is in black and white. This is a story about love, and love finds her and when it does her life turns to color."

"In Betty Boop's black-and-white world, we tap dance, but when she comes to New York City and hits Times Square, there's a little tap, but there's also hip hop and there's jazz, so the three styles of dance converge in Times Square where everything is a melting pot."

When asked why he wanted to tell this story, Mitchell said: "I think the world is full of so much cynicism right now, and this is a story about the only thing that matters in life, and that's love." 

Watch the full interview below!

BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical at Broadway In Chicago’s CIBC Theatre (18 W. Monroe St.) live on stage for the first time for a limited five-week engagement, November 19 - December 24.

Leading the cast are Jasmine Amy Rogers as Betty Boop (Mean Girls national tour), Tony Award®-winner Faith Prince as Valentina (Guys and Dolls, “Monarch”), Ainsley Anthony Melham as Dwayne (Aladdin), Erich Bergen as Raymond (Jersey Boys, “Madam Secretary”), Stephen DeRosa as Grampy (“Boardwalk Empire”), Angelica Hale as Trisha (“America’s Got Talent” finalist), Phillip Huber (Being John Malkovich), and Anastacia McCleskey as Carol (Caroline or Change).

The cast also includes Lawrence Alexander (Follies), Courtney Arango (A Chorus Line), Colin Bradbury (Funny Girl), Tristen Buettel (Bad Cinderella), Joshua Michael Burrage (Cats), Gabi Campo (Some Like it Hot), Daniel Castiglione (Yes Day), Rebecca Corrigan (In the Heights), Josh Drake (Aladdin), Ian Gallagher Fitzgerald (Kinky Boots), RJ Higton (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), Sydney Jones (A Beautiful Noise), Nina Lafarga (In the Heights), Morgan McGhee (The Who’s Tommy at the Goodman), Aubie Merrylees (To Kill A Mockingbird), Ryah Nixon (Once Upon a One More Time), Christian Probst (Bad Cinderella), Ricky Schroeder (Kinky Boots), Gabriella Sorrentino (Hamilton), Brooke Taylor (recent graduate of University of Michigan), Derek Jordan Taylor (student at Boston Conservatory), Amy Van Norstrand (Holiday Inn).

Tony Award®-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Pretty Woman: The Musical, Hairspray) brings the Queen of the Animated Screen to the theater in BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical, with celebrated multiple Grammy® Award-winning composer David Foster (“I Have Nothing,” “After The Love Is Gone,” “The Prayer”), Tony Award®-nominated lyricist Susan Birkenhead (Working, Jelly’s Last Jam), and Tony Award®-winning book writer Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone, The Prom).   

Betty Boop, that sassy-sweet champion of empowerment, that spit-curled icon of joy, that songstress of strength, comes alive in BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical, the new Broadway-bound musical comedy extravaganza. 

For almost a century, Betty Boop, created by animation pioneer Max Fleischer, has won hearts and inspired fans around the world with her trademark looks, voice, and style. Now, in BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical, Betty's dream of an ordinary day off from the super-celebrity in her black-and-white world leads to an extraordinary adventure of color, music, and love in New York City — one that reminds her and the world, “You are capable of amazing things.” 

The design and creative team for BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical includes David Rockwell, set design (Broadway: A Beautiful Noise, Into the Woods [2002], She Loves Me [2016 Tony Award®]); Gregg Barnes, costumes (Tony Awards®: The Drowsy Chaperone, Follies [2011], Some Like It Hot); Philip S. Rosenberg, lighting (Broadway: Mrs. Doubtfire, Pretty Woman); Gareth Owen, sound (Tony Award®: MJ: The Musical); Finn Ross, projection design (Tony Award® The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time); Sabana Majeed, hair & wig design (Uncut); Michael Clifton, makeup design (New York, New York); Skylar Fox, illusions design (Volkov); The Huber Marionettes, marionette Design (Darling Grenadine Jeff Award nomination); and Daryl Waters, musical supervision and arrangements (Broadway: The Cher Show, Shuffle Along, After Midnight).

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