The central role of Tina was played by Laura Bell Bundy,[1] with Natalie Portman and Britney Spears as understudies.

[5] The show had its UK premiere in 2002 at London's Stratford Circus Theatre, directed by Omar F. Okai and produced by Simon James Collier, where it won 5 Musical Stages Awards.

[6][7] The musical ran for nine performances in September 2014 at the Triad Theater in New York City to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

"[11] The cast features Kim Maresca (Judy Denmark), Tori Murray (Tina), Peter Land (Sylvia St. Croix), Tracy Jai Edwards (Louise), Andrea McCullough (Miss Thorn), and Rita McKenzie (Lita Encore).

Sylvia St. Croix, an overbearing and sleazy agent, encourages Tina to audition for the school play, Pippi in Tahiti, The Musical, feeding her thirst for stardom (“Talent”).

She casts an untalented (but parentally connected) girl, Louise Lerman, for the lead, making Tina the frustrated understudy (“The Audition/ To Play This Part”).

Lita Encore, Judy's adoptive mother (and Tina's grandmother), a tart-tongued theatre critic who "Hates Musicals", shows up to review the premiere of Pippi in Tahiti; and, In a series of revelations, we learn that Judy is the daughter of Ruth Del Marco, a Broadway star from the past who was believed to have committed suicide because of bad reviews from Lita Encore (“Where Tina Gets It From/ That Name”).

"Modern Thespian" reporter Emily Block directs a pointed interview at Judy and discovers not only her housewife past but that she has a child.

Tina is released from serving her time and comes back to Ginger's fabulous “Penthouse Apartment” (and her jealous assistant, Eve).

Tina then shoots her mother and begins to declare, gun in hand, that there's no money in Broadway when she is interrupted by Miss Block, who returns looking for her pad and pen.