Video: Jasmine Amy Rogers Performs 'My Friend, the Dictionary' From The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

2025 was a big year for Jasmine Amy Rogers: She made her Broadway debut in BOOP! The Musical, got rave reviews for her star-making performance, earned a Tony nomination....and then Boop! closed after three months. A week after she said goodbye to a musical she'd been working on for two years, Rogers got an email asking if she would come in for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; director Danny Mefford was considering her for the role of Olive.

Recalls Rogers: "And then I waited, like, two days [after that audition], and then I found out I had it." Now, Rogers is breaking everyone's hearts every night in the revival of the William Finn-Rachel Sheinkin musical, which has been enjoying a healthy run at New York Stages since last November. 

In an exclusive for Playbill, see Rogers sing "My Friend, The Dictionary" in the Playbill Studio in the video above.

Rogers admits that when she first encountered the musical, about a group of awkward middle schoolers who compete in a spelling bee and form a little community in the process, she didn't see herself in the show. Olive was originally played on Broadway by Celia Keenan-Bolger and, says Rogers, "I didn't think as a Black woman, I'd get to play this character, because I'd never seen it done before."

But when she was called in for Olive, she realized just how much she had in common with the young girl. Unlike the other kids at the bee whose parents are there to support them, Olive is utterly alone—her dad is working, and her mom is on a retreat in India. With so little emotional support at home, Olive turns to spelling as a source of comfort, the dictionary her steady foundation in an unsteady household.

Says Rogers, "Olive is the hero of our story, because she's one of those people that gives and gives so much to others and takes care of others as best as she can, but who is taking care of her? There's a lot of strength behind her. And I think that is true a lot of Black people, especially Black women, who are always trying to take care of the people around us, and sometimes we are not taking care of ourselves. So I think it really is a fitting story."

Unlike Betty Boop, Olive doesn't require Rogers to dance in heels. But that doesn't mean it's not challenging. Playing Olive has required Rogers to walk into some complicated emotional terrain.

"The relationship with her father is also very strong for me, because my own father and I did not have a great relationship," says Rogers, who was raised by her mother and grandmother. "Bringing that into the role was hard. It was helpful, but it was also very hard to think about him every night. And he's since passed. It was just this weird kismet kind of connection that the two of us had." Keenan-Bolger has been particularly supportive, as Rogers says with delight, "She said, 'You're really an actress.' And I was like, 'Oh my goodness! That's all I want!'"

While Rogers is grateful she's been working constantly in the past year (she even took time off during Spelling Bee to lead The Wild Party at New York City Center), she admits she's had little time to truly process the turns her career has taken. 

Like Olive, she's living in moment-by-moment, word by word—though she does add if Boop! ever comes to London: "I have first right of refusal." 

"Even the life that I'm living right now feels a little out of body, because I'm still like, 'How and when did we get here?'" she marvels. "So I'm like, still trying to take it all in. Even now, looking back at Boop, I'm really proud of what I did, and it's really exciting to get to do something that is completely different [in Spelling Bee], and to show that there's so many layers to what I want to do and what I can do. I'm just really proud of what I did [on Boop] looking back. And even though it was so short-lived, I'm glad that I was able to bring joy and bring that show to the world." She then adds, brightly, "Not everything can be the biggest hit in the world, but it mattered so much to so many people and to us. And that is so incredibly important."

And given the chance, Rogers is up for bringing Betty Boop to London, though she is quick to say, "I wouldn't be surprised if it happened, but it's not as of right now." She then laughs, delighted, "But I do have first right refusal, so I'll know eventually!"