David Foster Spent a Decade Bringing Betty Boop to Broadway

Let’s set the scene: You’ve navigated the impossibility of a Polo Bar reservation. You’ve ordered the overpriced pasta. Your martini has arrived perfectly chilled. But the real reason you’re in New York is for something else entirely—Boop! The Musical, David Foster’s Broadway venture that’s finally arrived.

The decade-long Boop! trajectory

On the latest episode of The World’s First Podcast, sisters Sara and Erin Foster—aka David’s daughters—gave us the behind-the-scenes tea on the decades-long journey of getting Betty Boop onstage. And when we say decades, we mean it. “He’s been working on this for like a decade or longer,” Erin revealed. “It was so good… the cast is so good. The music’s so good. The story’s so good. The dancing, all of it.”

Musical theater isn’t exactly familiar territory for David Foster. The 16-time Grammy-winning producer is best known for crafting hits for Whitney, Celine, and Beyoncé—not orchestrating Broadway showstoppers. 

Even Erin admitted they were nervous. “You go see something, and you’re like, fuck, I really hope it’s gonna be good. Because what if it’s not?” Fortunately, those fears proved unnecessary: “We were just so entertained. It was great.”

Meet Betty Boop—reimagined for 2025

Boop! takes the iconic flapper cartoon and plops her in the real world—think Barbie-meets-Broadway with a little Elf sparkle tossed in. “There’s nothing worse than when you really want someone to succeed,” Sara added. “It’s hard to fake it. To be like, ‘Oh, this is a great show!’ You know, it’s hard to fake it.”

Luckily, there was nothing fake about the reaction. The sisters gushed that even their notoriously unimpressed kids were obsessed. “Valentina has such a hard time focusing. She was glued to the stage,” Sara said. “They loved it. They were like, ‘We want to see it again. We want to take our friends.’”

Foster’s unexpected foray onto the Great White Way

According to David himself in a recent interview with The Chronicle Journal, it wasn’t an instant connection. “I wasn’t attuned to Broadway at all,” he admitted. “It’s a world I knew nothing about.” But Foster found his groove with help from lyricist Susan Birkenhead and book writer Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone, The Prom). “I just wanted to write songs I would want to listen to.”

The result is precisely what you’d expect from the man who engineered some of the greatest songs of all time. Boop! is “fun, fresh, and full of heart,” as one early audience review put it. Think dazzling costumes, a lovable cast, and yes—big, belty numbers that feel straight out of the Foster hit factory.

A vote of confidence… from Gigi Hadid

Opening night wasn’t just a family affair. Gigi Hadid (former Foster stepdaughter and current angelic cheerleader) showed up to support. “She reminded me she was around when he was first working on Boop!” Sara said. “I didn’t realize how long he’s been working on it.”

With Tony nominations around the corner and buzz building, Boop! might be this season’s surprise hit. And look, if you’re wondering whether you should go—take this as your sign to check it out. Take your mom, your niece, your inner child. Betty’s for everyone.

Sara summed it perfectly: “It’s appropriate for the whole family. It’s a great show.”