Messages featured in the Theatre Source and Festival performances included Idina Menzel, Marin Mazzie, Sutton Foster and Emily Skinner.
[3] Heidi Blickenstaff replaced Fernandez, who had accepted the understudy role to Beth Leavel in the Broadway production of The Drowsy Chaperone.
While her character's name remained "Stacia" for the Festival performances, thereafter it became "Heidi", and the role was modified to reflect Blickenstaff's experiences while helping to expand and evolve the show.
"The Wall", originally sung by Jeff and Stacia at the Festival, was rewritten as a solo for Heidi with new lyrics, and a new name, "A Way Back to Then."
A performance was scheduled to play in San Francisco in 2008 but was canceled because of time constraints in moving the show to Broadway by July 2008.
[8][9] Scenic design was by Neil Patel, costumes by Chase Tyler and lighting by Ken Billington and Jason Kantrowitz.
[citation needed] The UK premiere opened in London at the Landor Theatre in August, 2013 starring Scott Garnham as Hunter, Simon Bailey as Jeff, Sarah Galbraith as Susan and Sophia Ragavelas as Heidi.
The production starred Dennis Weißert (Hunter), Alexander Soehnle (Jeff), Annika Henz (Heidi), Franziska Kuropka (Susan) and Damian Omansen (Larry).
[11] The Los Angeles premiere production ran from July 16, 2010 to September 11, 2010, at the Celebration Theatre with Jennifer R. Blake, Carey Peters, Jeffrey Landman, Micah McCain, and Gregory Nabours,[12] for which Jennifer R. Blake won Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actress in a Musical for the role of Susan from StagesceneLA's Best of LA Theatre Awards 2009-2010[13] A production ran from November 16, 2010 to December 12, 2010 at the George Street Playhouse, New Brunswick, New Jersey, with Seth Rudetsky, Tyler Maynard, Lauren Kennedy and Susan Mosher.
[17] The show was first seen at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2013, starring Carley Stenson as Susan, Robbie Towns as Jeff, Ricky Johnston as Hunter, and Jamie Lee Pike as Heidi.
The show also features recorded vocal cameo appearances by several well-known Broadway actors, playing themselves: Kerry Butler, Marin Mazzie, Victoria Clark, Christine Ebersole, Sutton Foster, Patti LuPone, and Emily Skinner.
The scene morphs into song as they discuss setting their dialogue to music, imagine the success of their show, and express their longing for fame and recognition ("Two Nobodies In New York").
As Heidi and Jeff work on a solo about her doubts on the whole project, Hunter and Susan worry that they are just stringing sketches and novelty songs together and feel that they need to write something "a little meatier" ("I Am Playing Me").
The four revel in their six performances at the festival ("Montage Part 1: September Song"); backstage, Heidi and Susan reconcile their differences and bond over their supporting roles in the show ("Secondary Characters").
Ten months later, Susan, Jeff, and Hunter are back at their 'day jobs' while Heidi receives an offer to join the cast of The Little Mermaid on Broadway.
Heidi is upset that Hunter wants to replace her, Susan laments the time-consuming nature of the show's development and is concerned about profit-sharing, Jeff is upset at Hunter for pushing hard for changes that wound the integrity of the show, and Larry (the accompanist) feels left out of the press photos and interviews.
More apologies follow, and the four (led by Heidi) wax nostalgic over younger, happier, less complicated days ("A Way Back To Then").
They now understand that the show must sink or swim as it is — with the five of them, without a "bankable" star — because their relationship and the quality of their creation are more important to them than commercial success ("Nine People's Favorite Thing").
Susan checks in from her dressing room on the set of Law & Order, her first appearance on the show after performing an unprepared search for a theater on foot in Shubert Alley.
Upon returning to the apartment, Heidi messages Hunter and Jeff on iChat and recommends that the group perform out of town before mounting a Broadway production.
The discussion is interrupted by Jeff who updates the Showcial Network Chart and by Hunter parodying the YouTube video Leave Britney Alone.
Back in the apartment, Jeff and Hunter draw attention to the fact that they have implied the out of town tryout would be in San Francisco, which was canceled due to timing issues.
A baton relay race is held by the cast of [title of show] involving a mysterious package that has been delivered to Jeff.
Over twenty minutes earlier, Susan hands the package to Jeff who runs through Times Square to the Lyceum Theatre or The Producing Office to view its contents.
After finding that Groff cannot get her tickets, she kills him and finishes her trip in a restaurant where she eats and forgets to give Jeff the package.
Thirty-five minutes earlier, Hunter sits at his breakfast table when he suddenly gets dressed and retrieves the package from a shoe-box in his kitchen.
He runs into midtown New York City passing actor Barrett Foa on the way to Heidi's dressing room.
The entire sequence of events is played forwards very quickly and Jeff opens the package which contains the [title of show] sticker for his [TOS]ability board.
The fans include everyday people and celebrities Patti LuPone, Joel Grey, Betty Buckley, John Kander, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Jane Krakowski, America Ferrera, actor/siblings Celia, Maggie, and Andrew Keenan-Bolger, and others.
They were joined by special guests Bill Irwin, Cheyenne Jackson, Linda Lavin, Leslie Odom Jr., Nicolette Robinson, Steven Pasquale, Phillipa Soo, Zachary Quinto, Brooke Shields, Billy Crudup, and more.