Although not entirely unexpected, sad news came today from the producers of the Broadway musical Boop! The musical will play its final performance on the Great White Way on July 13th. I have been championing this show since I saw it for the first time in April during its previews. In my opinion, the show, punctuated by an amazing performance by its Tony-nominated star Jasmine Amy Rogers, a phenomenal musical score composed by mega producer David Foster (who spent years writing the score), fantastic costumes, phenomenal choreography, and a heartwarming story, was the best show on Broadway this season.
But the American Theatre Wing differed, and the show, despite being nominated for 3 Tony Awards, was completely snubbed. The show was also denied an opportunity to showcase itself during the Tony’s broadcast, which may have given it a much needed box office boost. As reported by Variety:
Boop! The Musical will play its final Broadway performance on July 13. The closing announcement is the fourth new musical in the past several weeks, following Smash, Dead Outlaw and Real Women Have Curves. All are new musicals that came to Broadway this spring, that were hoping for boosts from the Tony Awards, but did not take home any trophies. Boop star Jasmine Amy Rogers was nominated for a Tony Award this year, and the show also received nods for best costume design and best choreography. The musical, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, opened at the Broadhurst Theater April 5, after starting previews March 11.
The show’s storyline reimagines the cartoon character coming to life in modern day New York. Rogers was highlighted as a standout, and she won the Drama Desk Award for outstanding lead performance, an award which she shared with Gypsy’s Audra McDonald.
However, capacity at Boop! has been hovering around 70 to 80 percent for the past several weeks, and the musical has yet to crack $1 million in weekly grosses. Last week, the show brought in about $600,000, but grosses have dropped as low as about $400,000. Running costs are increasing for musicals on Broadway, which has brought added pressure to bring in audiences and also led to the recent slate of closures. Last week, Cabaret also announced it would end its run after about 14 months on Broadway.
Additionally, Boop did not perform on the Tony Awards (unlike the other new musicals) and thus did not have the marketing boost.The musical features a score by David Foster and Susan Birkenhead and a book by Bob Martin. The cast of Boop! also includes Faith Prince as Valentina, Ainsley Melham as Dwayne, Erich Bergen as Raymond Demarest, Stephen DeRosa as Grampy, Anastacia McCleskey as Carol Evans, Angelica Hale as Trisha, Phillip Huber as Pudgy the Dog, Aubie Merrylees as Oscar Delacorte and Ricky Schroeder as Clarence.
While the quality is rarely the same, let’s hope Boop! can live on in a national tour. Or better yet, perhaps a West End transfer to wow the stages of London could find itself in the works. A show this good deserves so much more success than it received.