Theatre in Review: Boop! (Broadhurst Theatre)Boop! has nothing to offer an audience but a bunch of sly laughs, kicky tunes, dazzling staging, inventive design, a company of pros, and a star being born eight times a week. I'm afraid theatergoers will simply have to make do. In this and other shows, including Elf, The Prom, and Smash (which I'll be writing about later in the week), book writer Bob Martin is on a one-man mission to revive the bright, breezy, and casual entertainments (Bells are Ringing, Bye Bye Birdie, Do Re Mi) that flourished in the 1950s and '60s, featuring contemporary settings, topical jokes, and thin premises designed to let everyone involved exercise their creative muscles. Such shows long ago went out of fashion, even if the fans remember them fondly. Those muscles are especially well-toned in Boop!, beginning with director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell's staging of the opener, "A Little Versatility." It's a fast-paced dazzlement that ushers us into a black-and-white universe featuring cartoon heroine/sex symbol/feminist icon Betty Boop leaping through the roles of aviatrix, cowgirl, eluder of wolfish embraces, and queen of the tappers. Later, blasted into modern-day New York, she takes over a jazz club in "Where I Wanna Be," which Mitchell turns into a kind of hepcat nirvana. These and other numbers benefit from the double-barreled design concept of David Rockwell (scenery) and Finn Ross (video), which alternates silvery, cinematic tones for Boopworld and a rainbow spectrum for contemporary New York, merging dimensional pieces with digital imagery into a seamless entity. Gregg Barnes (costumes), Sabana Majeed (hair), Michael Clifton (makeup), and Philip S. Rosenberg (lighting) are in on the gag, too, reaching its apex in the Act II opener, "Where is Betty?," which shuttles between worlds, flipping color palettes every few seconds. To be clear, Boop! stretches its frail proposition to the limit, zooming Betty into the present-day real world via a "trans-dimensional tempus locus actuating electro-ambulator," courtesy of Grampy, her mad scientist father figure. This being musical theatre, Betty befriends Trisha, a feisty female tweener and Boop fangirl in need of a mentor; falls for Dwayne, a swingy jazz trumpeter; and, of all things, meddles in the city election, dangling the possibility of becoming deputy mayor. Well, she wouldn't be the first cartoon character to hold municipal office. You could excuse the plot's many frailties by noting that Barbie got away with a similar conceit. But Greta Gerwig's film is a model of narrative lucidity compared to Boop!, which never lays down solid ground rules, leaving its fantasy elements entirely subject to convenience and leaving us unsure what to make of it all. For example: Once news gets out that Betty has landed -- at Javits Center, where Comic-Con is in full sway -- she becomes the town's hottest celebrity, with not a single person to question where she comes from. (Amusingly, a newspaper reporter asks, "Can we expect Popeye, too?") Trouble lurks, however: What with Betty kicking up her heels all around town, Boopworld, which exists entirely for her, is decaying at an alarming rate; will she allow her friends and neighbors to vanish? It's a plot puzzler as old as Brigadoon and, ultimately, Martin and company can't outrun the many questions the book leaves unanswered. Instead of finding a satisfying resolution, they throw their hands in the air, hoping to distract us with a high-stepping finale that resolves nothing. But because Boop! offers such lively, lighthearted fun so much of the time, you might as well sit back and surrender. For one thing, you can enjoy Broadway debutante Jasmine Amy Rogers, who takes the stage of the Broadhurst as if she has owned it for years. A round-faced charmer wreathed in an army of tightly packed curls, her face made up like a vintage Valentine, her voice squeaking like badly oiled brakes, she is a walking, talking animation -- check out the way she practically dives onto a bed -- who, improbably, morphs into a real woman. Rogers' confidence -- leading one dance number after another, belting in a voice two parts brass and one part honey -- is astonishing, mirroring Betty Boop's legendary can-do attitude. Yet she retains a touching vulnerability and a knack for deadpan one-liners. Lamenting her popularity, she muses, "I wish I wasn't so well-drawn!" Rogers is in excellent company, beginning with Ainsley Melham, a casual charmer with a big voice; a sneaky, you-must-be-joking smile; and an athletic dance style as Dwayne. His first number, "I Speak Jazz," hotwires the stage with frantic activity, and his duet with Betty, "Why Look Around the Corner," is exactly the charm song needed to make us care about these wayward lovers from separate dimensions. Angelica Hale, a runner-up on America's Got Talent, has a genial throwaway manner as Trisha, her turbocharged vocals bringing down the house in "Portrait of Betty." As the corrupt candidate for City Hall, Eric Bergen is a bigger caricature than Betty, but he has a ring-a-ding good time chasing her around his desk in "Take It to the Next Level." Among those facing extinction in Boopworld are Oscar (Aubie Merrylees), who directs her shorts, and Clarence (Ricky Schroeder), his assistant; they share a love that, even in this bizarre shadow version of pre-Code Hollywood, cannot speak its name, and you'll be rooting for them. Anastacia McCleskey is likable as Bergen's put-upon campaign manager. Pudgy, Betty's adorable dog, is brought to life by puppet master Phillip Huber. In one of the more thankless roles of the season, Faith Prince is the chicest astrophysicist you've ever seen, locked in a tumultuous, cross-dimensional romance with Grampy (Stephen DeRosa, channeling Ed Wynn and looking like a bearded Oompa-Loompa). What either character is doing in this story is a matter of conjecture. Nevertheless, she wills her material to life, tossing in a few bumps and grinds to enliven a filler of a comedy number and even looking flattered when Grampy tells her, "Entropy has been very kind to you." The lady is a pro, and so is her companion. Composer David Foster supplies plenty of the anthems that Broadway audiences crave these days, including an eleven o'clock barnburner for Betty called "Something to Shout About." (If you have any doubt left about her star quality, this number will seal the deal.) But he also makes room for easygoing melodies in a classic pop vein, along with others jumping with hot rhythms. Susan Birkenhead's lyrics feature her usual solid craftsmanship, especially in "Ordinary Day," with Betty dreaming of a life of "no more flashbulbs, no more fuss, deliciously anonymous," or "My New York," in which Dwayne, calling New York "a loud and lusty symphony," adds, "Ambulance wailing/Key of B flat/Miles would have killed/To play high notes like that." Sound designer Garth Owen exercises his musical comedy chops here, making sure the voices sit securely on top of Doug Besterman's orchestrations. Can a high-powered, yet cheerfully airheaded, musical like this survive in the current Broadway environment? We're about to find out. With another run through the laptop, Boop! could have emerged as a more coherent entertainment. But whatever is going on at the Broadhurst is often surprisingly sophisticated and filled with an unquenchable spirit of fun. Boop! is one musical that earns its exclamation point. --David Barbour 
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