I Just Saw Two of Broadway’s Biggest Musicals—But Only One Was a Must-See

Let’s start with the must-see option (sorry, Floyd). BOOP! The Musical was just so much fun to watch. Was it nominated for Best Musical at the Tonys? No, it was not (your loss, Tony voters). But it was nominated for the most important Tony: Best Lead Actress in a Musical for Jasmine Amy Rogers’s portrayal of the titular character.

Rogers is transformative and transfixing as Betty Boop. This is a role that could easily become cloying or flat or cartoonish or one-note. Rogers’s Betty is none of those things. Her spine-chilling vocals are just the beginning. She nails the voice, the mannerisms and she creates a fully fleshed-out character who has the ability to break hearts one moment and spark raucous laughter the next. In any other year, she would have been the runaway favorite to win the Best Actress Tony (unfortunately, this was an atypical year featuring powerhouses Audra and Nicole). She’ll have to console herself with the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical.

Rogers certainly makes this show—which, like Barbie, follows the lead character’s existential crisis that sends her fleeing to “the real world.” But there are many other reasons to go see as well. The music is great and actually memorable. This shouldn’t be such a rarity with new Broadway musicals but, trust me, it is.

The production itself is stunning, taking us from a cartoonish black-and-white world to full, brilliant technicolor. Through the use of video screens galore, the animated world and the real world blend seamlessly.  The visuals are all quite beautiful.

And then there are a number of other stellar performances, particularly from Faith Prince, Angelica Hale and Ainsley Melham. Each of Betty’s supporting cast members helps deliver the laughs and bring the cartoon world to life.

If you have the opportunity, BOOP! The Musical should be at the top of your must-watch list (alongside Gypsy and Oh, Mary! and Maybe Happy Ending).

Let me start with the positive. Floyd Collins, the story of a cave explorer who gets trapped hundreds of feet below ground, provides some gorgeous visuals, haunting vocals and moving performances. Jeremy Jordan does some of the best work of his career as Floyd, even if he spends the majority of the show in a seated position, stuck beneath heavy rocks. As expected, Jordan sings beautifully, but it’s his acting that shines brightest. And, he’s got the Tony nomination to prove it.

Tina Landau directs a visually impressive musical, particularly when it comes to her stage tableaus and the minimalistic yet claustrophobic-feeling underground cave. Floyd Collins is certainly a sight to behold.

And yet, I really struggled as a theatergoer. The musical is very, very slow. While pretty, the songs are similarly slow and unmemorable (I wasn’t humming any of the tunes on my way out of the theater). It also suffers from the difficulty of having its main character strapped in place for most of the show, limiting the staging options. Though the tableaus were nice, I felt bad for the actors frozen in place “above ground,” as we periodically checked in on Floyd below.

The musical also suffers from a simple conflict problem. The main issue is that Floyd is trapped and the people above are struggling the free him. But very little other conflict enters the picture, adding to the slow nature of the production. And it’s honestly difficult to care too much about the “above ground” characters—it is Floyd’s story after all—so each of their songs seems to simply stand in the way of the main action of the plot: freeing Floyd.

If you have the opportunity to take in Floyd Collins, you will undoubtedly experience beautiful and magical moments. But they were too few and far between to keep me interested or invested.

BOOP! The Musical is now playing at the Broadhurst Theatre. Floyd Collins is now playing at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.

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