Theater fans in the Valley already know that Heidi Blickenstaff, a veteran of Good Company Players, is carving out a significant career on Broadway. She played in "The Full Monty" and originated a supporting role in "The Little Mermaid." (In fact, I just wrote an update column about her in March.)

Now she writes with her biggest career news yet: The Off-Broadway show "[title of show]," the scrappy little four-person musical in which Heidi (pictured, at left, with the rest of the cast) made such a big impression in '06, is going important places:

We're making the big move to Broadway in July!!! It's so unbelievable and thrilling. It's actually happening! YAY! We're so excited, of course, and we can't wait to write the Broadway chapter of the show. Life is crazy.

All I can say is wow. And congratulations. It's tough-tough-tough to get a show to Broadway these days, especially a small musical.

The New York Times writes:

In what could be Broadway’s most profound exercise in postmodernism, “[title of show],” the scrappy little musical about trying to put on a scrappy little musical, is heading to Broadway. The show, written by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell and directed by Michael Berresse, is scheduled to begin previews at the Lyceum Theater on July 5 with an opening date of July 17. Kevin McCollum and Jeffrey Seller lead the producing team, which includes the Vineyard Theater, where “[title of show]” made its Off Broadway debut in 2006. The full cast — the two writers; Susan Blackwell; Heidi Blickenstaff; and the musical director, Larry Pressgrove — has been busy over the last few months with their online series, “The [title of show] Show” at titleofshow.com, about trying to get the musical to Broadway. They are all signed on for the Broadway run.

In "[title of show]," Heidi plays herself, as do her other cast members. It's actually a musical about the making of a musical, if that makes any sense. Back in 2006, when I interviewed Heidi in New York about the show, I wrote:

You could call it a meta-musical ... In this case, the creators take the concept to the extreme.

"[title of show]" is all about the creation of this particular show as an entry to the New York Musical Theater Festival. (When it came time to fill in the blank on the entry form for the show's title, the creative team of Bell and Bowen shrugged and thought: "Why not just call it that?")

In the opening scenes, the pair sing about the moment they get the idea to write something for the festival, and then they agree to submit whatever they come up with. We watch them recruit two friends -- Blickenstaff and Susan Blackwell -- who agree to collaborate. We're shepherded through the festival itself, where the show gets raves, and then through the inevitable artistic compromises made with financial backers to get the show up and running.

It's very, very insider in terms of musical theater. If you know who Emily Skinner is, you'll probably think the show is hysterical. (The Tony-nominated actress appeared in "Side Show"; the running joke is that Bell and Bowen would dearly love to get her in their show to give it a "big name.") And if you get a kick out of the idea of a musical about making a musical -- if you laugh at the process itself -- it can be a scream. This is the kind of show in which one character orders a turkey burger, then ponders: "Will this line be in the play?" (It is. And the burger actually gets delivered in a later scene.)

So when Heidi writes that the cast can't wait to start writing the Broadway chapter of the show, what that means is that they'll actually be writing about this part of their journey as well. (I hope we get a good "Little Mermaid" gag somewhere.)

This is a very big deal for Heidi: It's one thing to originate a smaller role on Broadway, like she's been doing with Carlotta in "The Little Mermaid," but the "[title of show]" role is in a whole different league. Not only is she an integral part of the show, she gets to sing the best song: a winsome tune titled "A Way Back to Then" in which she recounts part of her childhood in Fresno.

And, besides, Heidi won't have to risk her body every time she gets on stage as she does in "Mermaid." (The cast wears specially designed skates called "merblades" so people can glide about the stage.) She writes:

As far as "Mermaid" goes, I'm out on medical leave due to an small injury to my thigh. I'm totally fine, but I can't skate. And I thought I was having a lot of physical therapy before!