The Betty Boop® animated icon is set to hit the road, and Aliya Grace is ready to bring her to life.

This fall, Aliya Grace will star as Betty Boop in the North American Tour of BOOP! The Musical, which plays The Fabulous Fox, October 27 - November 8.

Making her national tour debut, Aliya Grace previously appeared as Lois Lane in Kiss Me, Kate and as Rosie/Ponytail Girl in Sweet Charity at Artistry Theatre. She also originated the role of Yvette in the world premiere of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical at Children’s Theatre Company. A finalist on Season 2 of ABC’s American Idol® show and a National YoungArts Week winner, Aliya trained at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy through the Rise program. She extends her love and gratitude to her family and the entire BOOP! team. Follow her on social at @thealiyagrace.

"From the moment Aliya walked into the room, she embodied everything we were looking for in Betty Boop,” said Jerry Mitchell, Director and Choreographer of the original Broadway production. “She has extraordinary talent, infectious joy, incredible heart, and the perfect blend of charm and charisma to bring the spirit of Betty Boop to a new generation. I can't wait for audiences across the country to fall in love with Aliya the way we did."

For almost a century, the Betty Boop character 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 super-celebrity in her black-and-white world leads to a “bright and bubbly” (Time Out New York) adventure of color, music, and love in New York City. “A show-stopping rainbow of joy” (The Daily Beast), BOOP! is the new Broadway musical-comedy extravaganza that’s fun for everyone – bringing heart, laughter, and a whole lot of Boop-oop-a-doop to the stage!

With original Broadway direction and choreography by Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Hairspray, La Cage aux Folles), BOOP! The Musical brings Fleischer Studios' Queen of the Screen to life with a score and arrangements by celebrated multiple Grammy winner David Foster ("I Have Nothing," "After the Love Is Gone," "The Prayer"), lyrics by Tony Award nominee Susan Birkenhead (Working, Jelly's Last Jam), and a book by Tony Award winner Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone, The Prom). Direction for the North American tour is re-created by DB Bonds and choreography is re-created by Rachelle Rak.

BOOP! is the Broadway musical that is perfect for audiences of all ages.


Aliya Grace to star as Betty Boop in the North American Tour of BOOP! The Musical, photo by Matthew Murphy

Learn More About Betty Boop!

The character that would eventually become Betty Boop made her first cartoon appearance on August 9, 1930 playing a bit role in the Fleischer Studios’ cartoon Dizzy Dishes.

Initially, she’d been created as a love interest for Bimbo, the “star” of the film, and like Bimbo, she was an animal in a world where animals had some remarkably humanistic traits. Like Bimbo, she was dog-like; a singing, dancing hybrid being with huge, droopy Cocker Spaniel-like eyes, a button of a nose and long puppy dog ears that tossed back and forth as she sang and danced.

She sang in that first appearance but had no lines. She didn’t even have a name, but that didn’t stop this sassy songstress from stealing the show. Audiences clamored for more and the Fleischers delivered. Her appearance shifted quite a bit in these early cartoons, which was fairly standard practice at the time. As her character grew and her personality developed, her look also became more refined.

By May of 1931, when she appeared in Silly Scandals, her Spaniel eyes had become smaller and rounder, and her floppy puppy dog ears had become shorter. And in September of 1931, she was given her full name of Betty Boop in Minding the Baby.

Betty’s look continued to evolve. It was with the release of Any Rags, in January of 1932, that her floppy puppy dog ears were transformed into the large hoop earrings that are, to this day, a central part of her signature look. In Boop Oop A Doop, released two weeks later, Betty was not only sporting her new hoop earrings, but her appearance, voice, mannerisms and singing of “Boop Oop A Doop” had clearly already established her as an immediately identifiable character. And by the end of 1932 in Betty Boop for President, she appeared as the fully developed animated female character that we know and love today.

While elements of her look were refined and shifted to match the style of the day, her appearance remained quite consistent until the mid-1930s. In 1934, Betty was given a new traditionally appropriate love interest in the character of Fearless Fred and her menagerie of animal pals were largely replaced by the adorable pup Pudgy.

By the end of 1939, Fleischer Studios had discontinued the Betty Boop Series entirely.

More than 80 years after having stepped away from the Silver Screen, her blend of sass, style and smarts, continues to inspire and attract fans around the world; including many who have never seen the 90 cartoons she appeared in between 1930 and 1939. But they know Betty Boop.

Today, Betty’s likeness can be found on a huge variety of everyday items, enjoyed by fans young and old, in more than 50 countries - including, in Boop!® The Musical, where she's back, but still uniquely and unmistakably Betty.

Special thanks to Fleischer Studios. “Becoming Betty Boop” text and images excerpted from https://fleischerstudios.com/becomingbettyboop.