Boop! is a bop.

Betty Boop, the wide-eyed, smooth-singing star of animator Max Fleischer’s 1930s black-and-white shorts, is Broadway bound. But the feisty flapper’s Boop! The Musical staged its highly entertaining world premiere at Broadway in Chicago’s CIBC Theatre Wednesday night.

The creative team–including Tony–winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, La Cage aux Folles), 16-time Grammy-winning composer David Foster, Tony-nominated lyricist Susan Birkenhead (Working, Jelly’s Last Jam), Tony-winning book writer Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone, The Prom), scenic designer David Rockwell, costume designer Gregg Barnes, projection designer Finn Ross and marionette designer The Huber Marionettes–is at the top of its game with this visually stunning and aurally pleasing show.

More on all that in a moment. Because what really makes this production sing is Jasmine Amy Rogers’ star-making turn as Boop, the Jazz Age cartoon character who suddenly finds herself transformed into a human woman in 2023 New York City. She’s funny, sweet, charismatic and has such a knockout vocal delivery that the show stopped for a sustained round of applause at the end of one number. I don’t know a better way to say this, so I’ll just share my feeling that if Betty Boop ever did turn into a real person, she’d likely act just like Rogers portrays her. The actor inhabits the part completely and creates a visceral connection with the audience. It’s quite a performance.

Rogers and the other actors–including standouts Ainsley Anthony Melham (who sings his vulnerable heart out as Boop’s winning boyfriend Dwayne), young Angelica Hale (showcasing her fine vocal talents as Trisha, Boop’s best friend in a strange new world), Stephen DeRosa (who delivers hilariously off-kilter line readings and physical comedy as screw-loose inventor Grampy) and Faith Prince (who’s great fun and delightful to listen to as Grampy’s brilliant love interest Valentina)–have plenty to work with here.

Start with the gorgeous set and projections that bring Boop’s black-and-white animated movie world to vivid life. Complement those with knockout costumes that contrast Boop’s monochrome Manhattan with the explosion of colors in the city as we know it. Sprinkle in high-octane tap numbers and other crowd-pleasing choreography driven forward by a killer orchestra (especially Brent Turney on lead trumpet).

Add a book that delivers many clever moments–from the star’s entry into our world via the New York ComicCon (where she is deemed the best of the half-dozen cosplay Boops wandering the hall) to Boop’s insight that real-life Manhattan is the city most like a cartoon, with giant buildings erupting out of a tiny island while the people below scurry about in double time.

Cap it all off with a number of top-notch showtunes and ballads (especially “Why Look Around the Corner,” “Something to Shout About,” “Where I Wanna Be,” “In Color” and peppy opener “A Little Versatility”). And oh, yes, throw in a charming marionette dog (Pudgy, imbued with sass and spunk by puppeteer Phillip Huber) while you’re at it. It’s a winning combo for sure.

Is the show turnkey-ready in this pre-Broadway debut? It comes within a coquettishly batted eyelash, but no. The subplot about a mayoral candidate (well played and sung by Erich Bergen) who co-opts Boop’s celebrity with nefarious intent could stand to be reworked or even jettisoned, though it does help Boop prove her Barbie-feminist bonafides. That quibble aside, Boop! seems primed to make a smooth transition to Broadway. It’s well worth catching here in Chicago before it does.

Boop! The Musical runs through December 24 at Broadway in Chicago’s CIBC Theatre.

For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.

Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman