AINSLEY MELHAM to return to Broadway to star in BOOP!

Principal casting for the new Broadway musical BOOP! The Musical has been announced and tickets are on sale today.

Following a critically acclaimed engagement in Chicago last year, previews of BOOP! The Musical will begin on March 11, 2025. The new family musical will open officially at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre (235 West 44th Street) on Saturday, April 5, 2025.

The principal cast of BOOP!, who received critical acclaim in the Chicago pre-Broadway run last year, is headed by Jasmine Amy Rogers as Betty Boop and Tony Award®-winner Faith Prince as Valentina, Ainsley Melham as Dwayne, Erich Bergen as Raymond, Stephen DeRosa as Grampy, Anastacia McCleskey as Carol, Angelica Hale as Trisha, Phillip Huber (Pudgy the Dog), and Aubie Merrylees as Oscar.

 

 

Tony Award®-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots) brings the Queen of the Screen to the theater in BOOP! The Musical, with celebrated multiple Grammy® Award-winning composer David Foster (“You’re The Inspiration,” “I Will Always Love You”), Tony Award®-nominated lyricist Susan Birkenhead (Working, Jelly’s Last Jam) and Tony Award®-winning book writer Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone).

Director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell :

I am over the moon that our Chicago principal cast will be joining us on the journey to Broadway. Everyone embodies the infectious positive spirit of Betty Boop, and I can’t wait to get back in the rehearsal room to bring BOOP! to Broadway.

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 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 finding 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 Musical includes Tony Award®-winner David Rockwell (She Loves Me), scenic design; Three-time Tony Award®-winner Gregg Barnes (Some Like It Hot), costume design; Philip S. Rosenberg (Mrs. Doubtfire), lighting design; Tony Award®-winner Gareth Owen (MJ: The Musical), sound design; Tony Award®-winner Finn Ross (Back to the Future), projection design; Emmy Award®-winner Sabana Majeed (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), hair and wig design; Michael Clifton (Gypsy), makeup design; OBIE Award®-winner Skylar Fox (Once Upon a Mattress), illusions design; The Huber Marionettes (Suspended Animation), marionette design.

 

 

Tony Award®-winner Daryl Waters (A Wonderful World), music supervision and arrangements; Three-time Tony Award®-winner Doug Besterman (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Orchestrations; Rick Fox (The Who’s TOMMY), music director; and Tony Award®-nominee Zane Mark (A Wonderful World), dance music arrangements. Casting is by Tara Rubin, CSA and Kevin Metzger, CSA. DB Bonds is Associate Director, Rachelle Rak and Jon Rua are Associate Choreographers, and General Management is by Foresight Theatrical.

BOOP! The Musical premiered at Broadway In Chicago’s CIBC Theatre November 19 through December 24, 2023, opening December 6, 2023.

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