It's not every day you get to see a new Broadway star be born, but I witnessed it at the first preview of BOOP!, a splashy new musical about the iconic cartoon character Betty Boop.
Twenty-six-year-old Jasmine Amy Rogers, a triple-threat singer/dancer/actor, made her Broadway debut as Betty to standing ovations at not just the end of the show, but after her 11 o'clock number, "Something to Shout About."
Rogers may be new to Broadway, but I met her eight years ago, when she was a high school senior from Houston, competing in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards — better known as the Jimmys.
As part of a story for Weekend Edition, I followed her and another finalist, Felix Torrez-Ponce over the course of a week, as they and 72 other talented high school students went through an intense process of learning new music, new choreography, going to coaching sessions with Broadway actors and, ultimately, performing onstage at the Minskoff Theatre, where The Lion King plays.
Even then, Rogers was self-possessed and ready to take advantage of the opportunities the Jimmys afforded her.
"One of my big things is to meet people, to expand my horizons and just learn," she told me. "I'm just ready to just go out there and do stuff, I guess, like work really hard."
One night, the nominees were treated to dinner at Sardi's, the theater district restaurant where caricatures of famous actors line the walls, and Rogers was impressed.
"It's so, so cool," she said. "I mean, seeing all the faces on the wall … that's like what we hope, like one day, our face is going to be up there."
Rogers' face isn't there yet, but she's starring as Betty Boop on Broadway, right across the street. "I couldn't ask for a better Broadway debut or a better moment to just be happening in life," Rogers related at a break in rehearsals. "It's really everything I've ever wanted. And it's coming true in a way I don't even think I could have dreamed."
"It was stunning"
The director/choreographer of BOOP!, Jerry Mitchell, discovered unknowns like Annaleigh Ashford and Billy Porter, before they became stars. He saw the same qualities in Rogers when he cast her as a 20-year-old in a musical he did in Atlanta.
"Actors walk into a room and you see something in them that you can't describe it. You just feel it. And, you know," he said.
When they were casting BOOP! he remembered her and suggested they bring her in. "She came in and auditioned, and she didn't do that well in her first audition. But I didn't give up on her."
And Rogers didn't give up on herself. She upped her skills, taking additional tap dancing classes and coaching sessions. She auditioned for the role seven times.
"I think it was Jerry who told her: 'This is your job. Just take it,'" said Bob Martin, who wrote the show's book. (Songs are by David Foster and Susan Birkenhead.) "And this confidence grew out of her, and she was Betty. She just came to life in front of us, and it was stunning."
From black-and-white to color
The musical takes the two-dimensional, black-and-white cartoon character of Betty Boop and thrusts her into the three-dimensional, colorful world of New York today, where she falls in love.
"The story has a lot of depth," Rogers said. "And Betty starts off in her cartoon world, but she already feels like there's something missing in her life. And so she goes on this journey, and she finds friends and love and happiness in a way she's never experienced it before."
Australian actor Ainsley Melham plays Betty Boop's love interest, Dwayne. He said that Rogers not only has the comedy and acting chops to play the role, but she's already setting an example as a leading lady.
"She is a powerhouse. She's a wonderful leader, and she always brings joy and generosity into the room…which is not always the case."
In a full-circle moment, I chatted with Rogers after her Broadway debut at Sardi's, where we had spoken eight years ago. She was still processing the whole experience — the standing ovations, the backstage visits, the crowd waiting for her autograph at the stage door.
You know, it was really wild," she told me. "I was anxious. It was so strange. And throughout most of the first half, I was just kind of locked in. I just had a game face on, and I was like, 'OK, I have to do this, I have to do this, I have to do this.' "
And then by the end, Rogers said, she relaxed into it. "And we got to a certain point and I was like, 'Oh wow! This is my Broadway debut."
Jennifer Vanasco edited the audio and digital versions of this story and produced the webpage. Chloee Weiner mixed the audio.
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