Heidi Blickenstaff
Encyclopedia
Heidi Blickenstaff is an actress based in New York City
best known for playing a version of herself in the musical [title of show
] during its Off-Broadway
and Broadway
runs.
The musical documents its own creation by two Broadway fans, who want to enter the New York Musical Theatre Festival and struggle to complete the show in three and a half weeks, and their two actress friends. The actors are also the writers and characters of the musical.
Blickenstaff has said her character in [title of show], a struggling actor also named "Heidi," is a "concentrated version" of her actual personality.
She also has credited her experience in [title of show] with easing her chronic stage fright, a form of self-doubt immortalized in one of the show's songs, "Die Vampire Die."
"I also have a stage fright vampire," she told TheaterMania.com in 2006, during [title of show]s extended off-Broadway run at the Vineyard Theatre
. "Certainly, [title of show] has been great medicine, because we talk about that stuff."
on Broadway
(as Susan Hershey) and The Little Mermaid
(as Carlotta/Ensemble and u/s for Ursula).
In 2006, she starred in the musical Meet John Doe
at the Ford's Theatre
in Washington, D.C.
, winning a Helen Hayes Award
for her performance.
Of Blickenstaff's performance in the musical—an adaptation of the 1941 Frank Capra
film
of the same name—Peter Marks wrote in the Washington Post: "She's a dynamite successor to the movie's Barbara Stanwyck: It's a star performance, in fact. There's an effortless kind of kick to Blickenstaff's readings of Ann's sharp-elbowed lines. And she can sing, to boot."
Blickenstaff's other regional credits include roles in The Girl in the Frame at the Goodspeed Opera House, Bat Boy: The Musical at Theatreworks
in Palo Alto, Calif., and Prairie at New York Stage and Film.
She has also worked in touring productions of The Full Monty, Jekyll & Hyde
(as the understudy for the role of Lucy Harris), Steel Pier
, Dreamgirls and The Who's
Tommy
. It was during the Tommy tour that Blickenstaff met her future [title of show] co-star (and the musical's co-creator/composer) Jeff Bowen
.
She has appeared in a television commercial for Nationwide Insurance.
She replaced Sherie Rene Scott
as Ursula in the Broadway production of The Little Mermaid on January 27, 2009 and stayed with the show till April 5, 2009. She was succeeded by Faith Prince
.
Heidi has a song, "This Time" on Scott Alan's latest CD, "Keys: The Music of Scott Alan."
She replaced Carolee Carmello
as Alice Beineke in The Addams Family
on March 8, 2011.
, and got her start in musical theater at the Good Company Players, where her roles included "Annie"
in the musical of the same name.
Her father, Dale Blickenstaff, is the former District Attorney of Fresno County.
She is a graduate of Roosevelt High School
in Fresno, Calif., and Duke University
.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
best known for playing a version of herself in the musical [title of show
Title of show
[title of show] is a one-act musical, with music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen and a book by Hunter Bell. The show chronicles its own creation as an entry in the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and follows the struggles of the author and composer/lyricist and their two actress friends during the...
] during its Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
and Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
runs.
[title of show]
Blickenstaff is a Broadway performer who gained widespread notice for her work in [title of show] after some years of working in understudy, supporting and ensemble roles.The musical documents its own creation by two Broadway fans, who want to enter the New York Musical Theatre Festival and struggle to complete the show in three and a half weeks, and their two actress friends. The actors are also the writers and characters of the musical.
Blickenstaff has said her character in [title of show], a struggling actor also named "Heidi," is a "concentrated version" of her actual personality.
She also has credited her experience in [title of show] with easing her chronic stage fright, a form of self-doubt immortalized in one of the show's songs, "Die Vampire Die."
"I also have a stage fright vampire," she told TheaterMania.com in 2006, during [title of show]s extended off-Broadway run at the Vineyard Theatre
Vineyard Theatre
The Vineyard Theatre is an Off-Broadway non-profit theatre company, located at 108 East 15th Street in Manhattan, New York City, near Union Square. Its first production was in 1981...
. "Certainly, [title of show] has been great medicine, because we talk about that stuff."
Other work
Blickenstaff's other Broadway credits include The Full MontyThe Full Monty (musical)
The Full Monty is a musical with a book by Terrence McNally and score by David Yazbek.In this Americanized musical stage version adapted from the 1997 British film of the same name, six unemployed Buffalo steelworkers, low on both cash and prospects, decide to present a strip act at a local club...
on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
(as Susan Hershey) and The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid (musical)
The Little Mermaid is a stage musical produced by Disney Theatrical, based on the animated 1989 Disney film of the same name and the classic story of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen...
(as Carlotta/Ensemble and u/s for Ursula).
In 2006, she starred in the musical Meet John Doe
Meet John Doe
Meet John Doe is a 1941 American comedy drama film directed and produced by Frank Capra, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The film is about a "grassroots" political campaign created unwittingly by a newspaper columnist and pursued by a wealthy businessman. It became a box office hit...
at the Ford's Theatre
Ford's Theatre
Ford's Theatre is a historic theater in Washington, D.C., used for various stage performances beginning in the 1860s. It is also the site of the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, winning a Helen Hayes Award
Helen Hayes Award
A Helen Hayes Award is a theater award named for the famed actress Helen Hayes to recognize excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are managed by Linda Levy Grossman. and presented by the Washington Theatre Awards Society.-Awards:The Helen Hayes...
for her performance.
Of Blickenstaff's performance in the musical—an adaptation of the 1941 Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
film
Meet John Doe
Meet John Doe is a 1941 American comedy drama film directed and produced by Frank Capra, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The film is about a "grassroots" political campaign created unwittingly by a newspaper columnist and pursued by a wealthy businessman. It became a box office hit...
of the same name—Peter Marks wrote in the Washington Post: "She's a dynamite successor to the movie's Barbara Stanwyck: It's a star performance, in fact. There's an effortless kind of kick to Blickenstaff's readings of Ann's sharp-elbowed lines. And she can sing, to boot."
Blickenstaff's other regional credits include roles in The Girl in the Frame at the Goodspeed Opera House, Bat Boy: The Musical at Theatreworks
TheatreWorks (Silicon Valley)
TheatreWorks is a non-profit, professional theater company based in Menlo Park, California and founded in July, 1970. The company is a member of the League of Resident Theatres and employs some 300 artists annually, including Equity and non-Equity actors, directors, designers and specialty artists...
in Palo Alto, Calif., and Prairie at New York Stage and Film.
She has also worked in touring productions of The Full Monty, Jekyll & Hyde
Jekyll & Hyde (musical)
Jekyll & Hyde is a musical based on the novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The original stage conception was by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn. The music is by Wildhorn and the lyrics and book are by Leslie Bricusse.The musical ran on Broadway for 1,543...
(as the understudy for the role of Lucy Harris), Steel Pier
Steel Pier (musical)
Steel Pier is a musical written by the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb from the original book by David Thompson.-Productions:Directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Susan Stroman, it opened on Broadway on April 24, 1997 and closed on June 28, 1997, running for 76 performances...
, Dreamgirls and The Who's
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
Tommy
Tommy (rock opera)
Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was...
. It was during the Tommy tour that Blickenstaff met her future [title of show] co-star (and the musical's co-creator/composer) Jeff Bowen
Jeff Bowen
Jeff Bowen is an American composer, lyricist and actor. He is best known as one of the authors and stars of the Broadway musical [title of show]. He is currently developing a new musical work titled Now. Here...
.
She has appeared in a television commercial for Nationwide Insurance.
She replaced Sherie Rene Scott
Sherie Rene Scott
Sherie Rene Scott is an American actress, singer and writer. She is a co-founder of Grammy winning Sh-K-Boom Records and Ghostlight Records and has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway and Broadway musicals and plays appears on numerous solo and original cast recordings.-Life and career:Scott was...
as Ursula in the Broadway production of The Little Mermaid on January 27, 2009 and stayed with the show till April 5, 2009. She was succeeded by Faith Prince
Faith Prince
Faith Prince is an American actress and singer known primarily for her work on Broadway. Prince has won the Tony Award as Best Actress in a Musical and received three Tony nominations.-Life and career:...
.
Heidi has a song, "This Time" on Scott Alan's latest CD, "Keys: The Music of Scott Alan."
She replaced Carolee Carmello
Carolee Carmello
Carolee Carmello is an American actress best known for her performances in Broadway musicals.She made her Broadway debut in a small role in City of Angels...
as Alice Beineke in The Addams Family
The Addams Family (musical)
The Addams Family is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. The show is based upon The Addams Family characters created by Charles Addams in his single-panel gag cartoons, which depict a ghoulish American family with an affinity for...
on March 8, 2011.
Personal life
Heidi grew up in Fresno, CaliforniaFresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
, and got her start in musical theater at the Good Company Players, where her roles included "Annie"
Annie (musical)
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
in the musical of the same name.
Her father, Dale Blickenstaff, is the former District Attorney of Fresno County.
She is a graduate of Roosevelt High School
Theodore Roosevelt High School (Fresno)
Theodore Roosevelt High School , is located in Fresno, California. It is a high school established within the Fresno Unified School District. The high school mascot is the Rough Rider named after the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment Theodore Roosevelt organized and helped command during the...
in Fresno, Calif., and Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
.