Points to make after seeing Boop! (World Premiere at the CIBC Theatre in Chicago.)
1. Can we agree that disliking a sledge-hammer heavy-handed show about female empowerment is about disliking the show, not disliking female empowerment?
2. The concept has a problem.
- Bad musical: Nick and Nora. When Dashiell Hammett wrote The Thin Man, it was innovative - a tough detective who was happily married to a wealthy wife. Never argued; they bantered, with an occasional dip into disagreement. Let's do a musical about their marital problems.
- Bad musical: The Addams Family. The happiest, most well-adjusted family in TV/movie history. Let's do a musical about how dysfunctional they are; Gomez is henpecked and Morticia is a paranoid bitch. That'll be fun.
- And... Boop! The cartoon symbol of fun-loving, enthusiastic Pre-Code sexuality. Let's do a musical where she is Unfulfilled and must become the Role Model of Female Empowerment for All Women Everywhere.
Predicate the script on the conceit that the square peg is just the right fit for the round hole. Feh.
3. The cast is frickin' amazing and marvelous. David Foster's music is the best thing about the show. Susan Birkenhead's lyrics - not so much.
4. Jasmine Amy Rogers as Betty. So wonderful. She deserves a better show.
5. The art direction/projected scenery is outstanding. Top-notch throughout.
6. This a musical comedy based on a slapstick cartoon series, and there is not one big laugh in the show. Lots of little ones. And perhaps cut a power ballad or two and put maybe one funny song into a musical comedy.
7. There are Max Fleischer touches that are spot-on and brilliant, most of them at the opening of the show, but also during a love song in act two that I won't spoil here.
8. Book by Bob Martin. His book for The Drowsy Chaperone completely makes fun of itself for disregarding basic play structure, and it's one of my favorite musicals. But... Bob Martin makes fun of what he actually can't do. The story-building here is very sloppy. Major plot points rear their unattractive heads in Act II. That's too late. We're supposed to care about a mayoral race between two minor characters that doesn't rev up until Act II; so we don't care. There is a powerhouse number that ends Act I. It's just a powerhouse number; there is no crisis (Guys and Dolls), suspense buildup (A Little Night Music) or note of false triumph to be undercut later (The Producers) to make the audience want to see what happens after intermission.
9. Jerry Mitchell's choreography is brilliant, even the part he stole sampled from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. involving tripling the number of chorus girls.
10. I knew we were in trouble when Betty's companions weren't the Pre-Code Bimbo and Koko, but Code-Era Grampy and Pudgy (a well done marionette.) Stephen DeRosa's Grampy sounded exactly like Joey D'Auria as Bozo.
11. Despite having the best song in the show (A Case for Love), Faith Prince basically has a glorified cameo role.
12. There is a LOT of hard-working talent up there, and they deserved the standing ovation they got. The show itself is ultimately unsatisfying.
Boop! runs November 19 - December 24 at the CIBC Theatre, 18 W Monroe St, Chicago, IL 60603. For tickets go here: Broadway in Chicago.
