This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Susan Blackwell: This is part one of our conversation with Heidi Blickenstaff.

[0:04] Laura Camien: Part two will be available next week.

[0:05] Susan Blackwell: Unless it's the future, then it's available now.

[0:08] Laura Camien: So go on, give it a listen and find out what's sparking Heidi these days.

[0:12] Susan Blackwell: Little baby Heidi.

[0:14] Laura Camien: Heidi Kins.

[0:15] Susan Blackwell: The Spark File podcast may contain profanity and other adult content.

[0:20] Laura Camien: Please use your discretion.

[0:25] Susan Blackwell: When I bump into something that inspires me.

[0:30] Laura Camien: I jump in my spark file.

[0:34] Susan Blackwell: Spark file will be something that I want to make or how I want to be.

[0:39] Laura Camien: I pump in my spark file.

[0:44] Susan Blackwell: I jump into my spark slide.

[0:48] Laura Camien: Let's open up the spark file.

[0:52] Susan Blackwell: Welcome to the Spark File, your endless melody of creative inspiration.

[0:57] Laura Camien: I'm Laura Camien and I'm Susan Blackwell.

[1:00] Susan Blackwell: If you're an OG listener, welcome back, Sparkler.

[1:02] Laura Camien: If you're joining us for the first time, welcome, welcome.

[1:06] Susan Blackwell: But you may be asking yourself, what exactly is a spark file?

[1:10] Laura Camien: Where do I get one?

[1:11] Susan Blackwell: What do I file in it?

[1:12] Laura Camien: These are such good questions, and we have got answers.

[1:12] Susan Blackwell: A spark file is the place where you consistently collect all of your inspirations and fascinations.

[1:20] Laura Camien: And if you're like us and you're making stuff all the time, sometimes the wellspring of inspiration can run a little dry.

[1:28] Susan Blackwell: We are here to refill it.

[1:30] Laura Camien: We're on the lookout for fresh ideas, images, and inspiration that spark our creativity and pique our curiosity.

[1:36] Susan Blackwell: Things that inspire us to get up off of our asses and make things like this podcast.

[1:42] Laura Camien: Or a concert of music that moves people, lifts them up, and blows their wigs backwards.

[1:49] Susan Blackwell: Or a song a day performance on social media that raises millions of dollars to help others.

[1:55] Laura Camien: Or an original stage character who doesn't have to fit the mold.

[1:59] Susan Blackwell: The performer is the mold, not the smelly mold.

[2:02] Laura Camien: You know, the mold.

[2:04] Susan Blackwell: Or a PSA empowering young people to stay home and flatten the curve.

[2:08] Laura Camien: On today's Makersode, we're gonna talk with someone who truly sparks us.

[2:13] Susan Blackwell: And that special someone is Heidi Blickenstaff.

[2:16] Laura Camien: Hi, Zee.

[2:17] Heidi Blickenstaff: Welcome to Spark File.

[2:21] Susan Blackwell: Thanks for watching.

[2:21] Heidi Blickenstaff: Hi ladies!

[2:22] Laura Camien: You're two of my very favorite people on the planet.

[2:26] Heidi Blickenstaff: How are you guys?

[2:27] Susan Blackwell: We're so happy that you're here.

[2:29] Heidi Blickenstaff: Me too, me too.

[2:31] Heidi Blickenstaff: Me too, me too.

[2:32] Heidi Blickenstaff: Me three, me three.

[2:35] Susan Blackwell: Heidi, before we um before we get into all of this, we have a small price of admission.

[2:42] Laura Camien: We uh first of all, we need to admit something.

[2:45] Susan Blackwell: We want to acknowledge that you are our first guest recorded during quarantine times.

[2:50] Laura Camien: And for the first time, like we're not able to be in our room with our guest.

[2:54] Susan Blackwell: Can you tell us where are you?

[2:57] Heidi Blickenstaff: How are you doing?

[2:58] Heidi Blickenstaff: And what do you look like right now?

[3:00] Heidi Blickenstaff: What are you wearing?

[3:02] Heidi Blickenstaff: All of my clothes are soft clothes.

[3:05] Heidi Blickenstaff: Um buttons or zippers and all easy.

[3:11] Heidi Blickenstaff: Yeah, a lot of elastic.

[3:13] Heidi Blickenstaff: Yeah, I am in New York City in my apartment in Harlem with my husband and our dog, Eleanor.

[3:23] Heidi Blickenstaff: And I know, and we've been here since um March 13th, which I think was Friday the 13th.

[3:32] Heidi Blickenstaff: And we're fine.

[3:33] Heidi Blickenstaff: We are um incredibly grateful to be healthy uh when so many people in our city are not, and um, our families are healthy.

[3:46] Heidi Blickenstaff: His sons are with their mom right now upstate at a farm, which sounds pretty great.

[3:52] Heidi Blickenstaff: And everybody's healthy there.

[3:54] Heidi Blickenstaff: And so we are definitely obediently doing what our governor is telling us to do gladly and happily.

[4:04] Heidi Blickenstaff: And we're fine.

[4:06] Heidi Blickenstaff: My family in California is fine.

[4:08] Heidi Blickenstaff: I'm so happy to also say that.

[4:10] Heidi Blickenstaff: But being in New York is crazy because there's, you know, there's a lot of sickness around us.

[4:16] Heidi Blickenstaff: We have lots of people in Harlem that have fallen ill.

[4:20] Heidi Blickenstaff: And we have neighbors.

[4:22] Heidi Blickenstaff: We had a neighbor across the street that um sadly passed away and was found in his apartment.

[4:30] Heidi Blickenstaff: And they came and got him.

[4:32] Heidi Blickenstaff: I mean, it's it's a it's definitely a crazy time, and it's it's really real for those of us in New York where I think a lot of people in the rest of the country aren't necessarily experiencing such a dramatic version of COVID-19.

[4:47] Heidi Blickenstaff: Um, but we are we are just fine.

[4:49] Heidi Blickenstaff: Thank you for it's interesting when we talk to our families um that aren't in New York and describe I don't know.

[4:59] Heidi Blickenstaff: I just I feel like they think it's um like overblown or something or exaggerated in some way.

[5:07] Heidi Blickenstaff: But I think when you're in the middle of the hot zone, it's it is really real, and it is really um, you know, sometimes it feels desolate and sometimes it feels uplifting when, oh my gosh, I was Marco Poloing with Heidi yesterday, and it was right at 7 p.m.

[5:23] Heidi Blickenstaff: Eastern time, which was when everybody like cheers for the healthcare heroes and the people on the front lines.

[5:30] Heidi Blickenstaff: And um everybody throws open their windows and bangs pots and pans and just like I'm just talking about it.

[5:38] Heidi Blickenstaff: I'm getting chills right now.

[5:39] Heidi Blickenstaff: It's it's um Yeah.

[5:41] Heidi Blickenstaff: Uh it it's it is um truly um I don't know, surreal, uniting, unbelievable, thrilling.

[5:50] Heidi Blickenstaff: Um, you know, literally seven o'clock happens and and everybody, like Susan said, throws their windows open and just cheers and screams and and um uh shows their gratitude and thanks for all of these essential workers that have been, you know, doing what we cannot.

[6:09] Heidi Blickenstaff: There was a UPS guy that was coming out of um the building across the way and and a couple days ago I was like, Thank you, UPS man.

[6:19] Heidi Blickenstaff: And then all my other neighbors were like, Thanks, UPS, you know.

[6:23] Heidi Blickenstaff: I just think everybody is so grateful for everybody who is delivering food, and of course the medical workers.

[6:29] Heidi Blickenstaff: And just the other morning I was walking Ellie and um I saw a young man in scrubs headed to work, I assume, and I said, Thank you so much.

[6:39] Heidi Blickenstaff: And he smiled, and you know, there is definitely a gratitude for all of these people that are working so hard for us in such a such a scary time.

[6:49] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[6:50] Laura Camien: It always feels to me like for you know, the reputation that New Yorkers have to be rebellious and individualists in every way, we really know how to come together in a crisis.

[7:01] Heidi Blickenstaff: Isn't that the truth?

[7:02] Laura Camien: And we have so much practice at it.

[7:04] Heidi Blickenstaff: Yeah.

[7:05] Heidi Blickenstaff: Yeah, there is a lot of practice.

[7:07] Laura Camien: But sadly, that is also true.

[7:09] Heidi Blickenstaff: But I, you know, lots of people that I've been talking to that are outside of New York City, they they are like, what's it like?

[7:17] Heidi Blickenstaff: Like, how are you doing?

[7:18] Heidi Blickenstaff: It must be, it must be terrible.

[7:20] Heidi Blickenstaff: And of course, it's terrible to be in the hot zone where we have, you know, double at least the cases than the next than the next uh hardest hit place.

[7:31] Heidi Blickenstaff: But at the same time, there is a New York pride that exists by being in a place where um, you know, shit goes down in New York, and when it does, New Yorkers pull it together with each other.

[7:45] Heidi Blickenstaff: And I'm very proud to be in a place where um a crisis uh makes us rise to the best version of ourselves, not the worst.

[7:56] Laura Camien: So that you gotta love New York for.

[8:00] Susan Blackwell: That's really I perfectly put something.

[8:03] Laura Camien: You perfectly put it.

[8:04] Susan Blackwell: Heidi, have you been on a podcast before?

[8:07] Laura Camien: Have you podcasted before, Honey Blickenstaff?

[8:09] Heidi Blickenstaff: I listen to podcasts like it's my job.

[8:12] Heidi Blickenstaff: Um have you been on one?

[8:15] Heidi Blickenstaff: I don't, I think you're popping my podcast cherry, Sue.

[8:18] Susan Blackwell: Oh my god.

[8:19] Heidi Blickenstaff: That is filthy, and we're so happy to do this.

[8:23] Susan Blackwell: Here you are perfectly putting things.

[8:25] Heidi Blickenstaff: It's really exciting.

[8:27] Heidi Blickenstaff: I know, but I'm such a fan of the show and also the genre in general.

[8:32] Heidi Blickenstaff: I uh love podcasts, and so funny when people are like, I don't really listen to podcasts, I'm like, what's wrong with you?

[8:39] Heidi Blickenstaff: Like you're missing out on so much goodness.

[8:43] Heidi Blickenstaff: And if you you could like something, you could have be passionate about something that is so niche, it could be niche niche, and there are 17 podcasts that cover it.

[8:53] Heidi Blickenstaff: So pick your podcast.

[8:54] Laura Camien: But listen, before we get uh too far ahead of ourselves, back to business as usual.

[8:54] Susan Blackwell: The Spark File Price of Admission, real quick.

[9:01] Laura Camien: Heidi, you have to tell us a creative risk you've taken recently, and we know you've been swinging for the fences creatively these days.

[9:08] Laura Camien: So just give us a taste, and we're gonna unpack it in a moment.

[9:12] Heidi Blickenstaff: Creative risk you've taken recently.

[9:14] Heidi Blickenstaff: Well, I I'm taking like 10 creative risks a day.

[9:18] Heidi Blickenstaff: So I'll tell you the creative risks I just took this morning before we started before we started talking.

[9:26] Heidi Blickenstaff: Hot off the presses.

[9:28] Heidi Blickenstaff: Um of the things that I've had to do for this new uh thing that I have produced is um is get it out on social media, and I do okay on social media, but I'm not I'm not an oversharer.

[9:45] Heidi Blickenstaff: I don't love self-promotion.

[9:48] Heidi Blickenstaff: I I've always sort of come to it.

[9:51] Heidi Blickenstaff: Um I don't know, like a little bit of it, it's been a chore for me, but yeah, because the thing that I have produced is for young people, and they're so fluent in all things social media.

[10:03] Heidi Blickenstaff: I have learned to um and I don't know how good I am at it yet, so God bless.

[10:09] Heidi Blickenstaff: But I I have learned how to do Instagram stories.

[10:13] Laura Camien: Yes!

[10:15] Heidi Blickenstaff: Oh my god.

[10:16] Heidi Blickenstaff: Um, and it's a little bit the bane of my existence, and every time I put a new story out, I'm a little bit better at it.

[10:23] Heidi Blickenstaff: So there's a learning curve, and are you like using stickers and using like girl?

[10:29] Heidi Blickenstaff: I'm using stickers and filters, I'm using, I'm drawing hearts with my fingers.

[10:36] Heidi Blickenstaff: Yes, I'm pointing to fun things with arrows.

[10:40] Heidi Blickenstaff: I'm like, I'm getting it.

[10:42] Heidi Blickenstaff: I'm totally getting it.

[10:43] Heidi Blickenstaff: I'm putting sunglasses on people and giving them bunny ears.

[10:46] Heidi Blickenstaff: Like I said.

[10:47] Heidi Blickenstaff: So do you really understand the syrup and the demo books?

[10:51] Heidi Blickenstaff: Because I need to have my finger on the pulse with the young people.

[10:56] Heidi Blickenstaff: Yeah. But it's been it's been fun, and every time I do a new one, I I'm I'm learning. And I have to say that maybe that's the key to growing older is like keep giving yourself something to learn.

[11:11] Laura Camien: That's right.

[11:12] Heidi Blickenstaff: Because not only do you um stop like being a dinosaur to your children, but but you also are like staying relevant. You're keeping you're keeping it. Your brain is growing.

[11:23] Susan Blackwell: Yes, totally.

[11:25] Heidi Blickenstaff: Yes, your brain, you're keeping your brain spongy. I was teaching a group of like 20-year-olds last week a class in podcasting and sound editing. And I was like, if this old dog learn that these little tricks. These little tricks, then y'all have no excuses. Like that's if you're if you're passionate about if you want to make a podcast, if you want an Instagram story, Heidi, then what I was hoping you were gonna say, the thing I want you to teach me, Heidi is how to do Instagram TV.

[11:56] Heidi Blickenstaff: Oh, that's not hard at all, Suze. That's super easy.

[11:59] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[12:00] Heidi Blickenstaff: If you I can tell you all about that. If you have a movie over the over a minute, it's just like a snizzy snap, Suze. I'll teach you how to do it as soon as we get off of this.

[12:09] Susan Blackwell: Oh my god. I'm a pro at that. You're gonna teach me how to do it, and I'm gonna share something that you made when I do it.

[12:15] Heidi Blickenstaff: Okay, great. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

[12:18] Susan Blackwell: Okay. Um I think it's official that you are admitted into this spark file.

[12:26] Heidi Blickenstaff: I'm so honored.

[12:29] Susan Blackwell: Slash pot, flashpot. Hi. For people who don't know you perhaps as well as Suze and I know you. Can you tell them how do you identify creatively?

[12:41] Heidi Blickenstaff: Oh, like recently changed. Um, but I I will say um I have historically, I have been an actress and a singer. And that morphed into um I I actually kind of started out being a dancer too. I'll throw that into the studio.

[13:04] Heidi Blickenstaff: Yeah. Um yeah, but then I met some people, including you two, um, where we created a show together that was called Title of Show, and then I added um collaborator and creator to that list.

[13:24] Susan Blackwell: Yes.

[13:25] Heidi Blickenstaff: And um, and then as the years have gone by and I have made my own cabaret, is such a word that makes me itchy. And I and I mean no concert. Concerts are better. I I also want to say I mean no disrespect to people who embrace cabaret, like it that is their jam because I have seen cabarets that I'm just like, I love this, I love you doing this, but for some reason that word doesn't feel quite right on me. But I as I have built um my own concerts, we'll use that word. I would also say that I am a storyteller. I have written things now. Um, and I as I have evolved in my process as an artist, I have gained more confidence. And up and up in like I would say three weeks ago, I also added producer to that list.

And let me tell you. I have loved every second of it. And there is part of me that's like, wait a minute. Like, uh, of course, I will always perform because I love doing that. I have a complicated relationship with performing, but I love performing. Um, but this producing thing, I'm telling you, like I I don't know what it is. I maybe I just enjoy like um the buck stopping with me and um having more creative control and it's been it's been sexy, you guys. It's been really good. I love it.

[15:00] Heidi Blickenstaff: Yeah. And I've done it with my husband too. And we we enjoyed being business partners together, and I think it strengthened our relationship. It didn't hurt us, and so it's been a real, I would say, like a win for me.

[15:15] Laura Camien: So I've a huge win for all of us that we get to see what you're producing and creating too. So it's a win-win.

[15:24] Heidi Blickenstaff: Um I I would agree, like the producing part of it, like at least even though obviously we're not in control of all things, it does give one a sense of, you know, at least I'm steering this ship. And if if I don't like the direction it's going in, it's up to me to turn it, as opposed to feeling like, God, I wish someone would get, you know, head us in a different direction here.

[15:48] Laura Camien: Right. You're not waiting for anyone else to do it.

[15:51] Heidi Blickenstaff: It's you.

[15:52] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[15:53] Heidi Blickenstaff: Yeah. And it's also like because I'm coming to this in my later 40s, I have amassed so many skills on the way to grandma's house, like so many communication skills. So, you know, I come from the back row of the ensemble. So I know what it's like to be grateful for every person inside the production machine. And so I feel like I know how to talk to people with respect. And like you were saying, Laura, when when something is taking a left turn and I want to get it back on course, I feel like I now know because of all the therapy I've also had, how to communicate those ideas in a respectful, concise way so that the people that I've invited in on this thing feel um emboldened to continue doing their best. And um kindness is a huge factor and appreciating people for all that they're putting into the project. I mean, anyway, it it's uh it's been I feel like all everything is lining up for me to just you know keep walking down this awesome path.

[17:05] Laura Camien: That's right. There are two people fighting over a parking space on the street outside my window.

[17:10] Heidi Blickenstaff: Oh, great. Very great.

[17:11] Laura Camien: That's the kind of unity I'm talking about as well. Love you, brother. Um, so Hyde, just to just get a sense of your trajectory, can you tell us? Um, so previously, as you were living as, you know, primarily an interpretive artist, can you tell us what you were most well known for? And then take us along that path into uh becoming a producer and a creator and what you're working on now.

[17:40] Heidi Blickenstaff: Well, you guys, um I feel like you're I feel like you're one of those people that if you were like out in public and somebody started approaching you with that look of sort of like their heart was beating faster because they were seeing you it it could be anybody's guess what's going to come out of their mouth like what's gonna be totally true.

[18:02] Laura Camien: Yeah that is true because I have had my fingers in more pies just enjoy that.

[18:09] Heidi Blickenstaff: Ooh tell us about the pies I have um done a lot of things all of which I am so grateful for but um yeah you know I I started out uh being in the ensemble of lots of shows as a singer dancer actor and um eventually uh miraculously uh that turned into doing that in a Broadway way my very first show was the full Monty and um I played Susan Hershey who was in the ensemble she's an ensemble character um and then I understood last name Susan Hershey listen I I had a deep deep spine with her um research did you do an extensive character study right viewpoints yes exactly um but I that was my very first Broadway show and you know you never forget that moment because it's what you've been dreaming about since you were you know a little peanut butter and so when that happened I just I totally couldn't really believe any of it and um every day was sort of shocked.

[18:09] Laura Camien: I know can can we just pause here for just a second and we're gonna get to the rest of this question. But you have an amazing story about like the first time that you stepped onto uh Broadway stage as a performer yeah and meeting your fellow actors on stage.

[19:31] Heidi Blickenstaff: That is cool. Oh, tell us, please tell us the story.

[19:34] Heidi Blickenstaff: So I I did the national tour of the full Monty, the the first national tour, as they used to be called, while the Full Monty was still playing on Broadway. And um September 11th tragically happened. And um, when that happened, the world just stopped, much like it's uh stopping now. And the tour was sort of indefinitely paused, and we were all sent home. And um, I came home and the Broadway show was also paused, and I can't remember exactly how long Broadway was was kind of um out of commission. It wasn't that long because I remember um I remember that we were all encouraged to get back to work and not let fear drive us and go to restaurants and spend your money and don't be afraid. And so there was definitely this um almost act of rebellion from New Yorkers, like you're not gonna scare us away from doing what we love.

And so people did come back to the theater. Okay, so all the Broadway shows did come back to life, um, kind of slowly at first, but then they they got back to normal, I think sooner than any of us thought. And I had been home from the tour for about I don't know, two months, and the Broadway show had been back and running for about maybe a month, and I got a phone call from the PSM, Nancy Harrington, whom I will always love, and she said, How do you feel about saving a Broadway show tonight? And I was like, Oh shit. Oh shit. And tonight. That was, yeah, literally. And I um I was like, who is this? How did you get this number? And she explained the situation. And essentially, you know, the full Monty, obviously, it's about the guys.

It's about, it's about all the guys who end up, you know, um refining their self-esteem through doing this amazing show, which all happens to be them taking their clothes off. But um, the women in the full Monty are not, they certainly are in the full Monty, but it's the story mostly revolves around the guys. But um I was asked on that night to just the way things shook down at the Broadway Theater, there was a lot of sickness going on in that theater, and um just the way that the puzzle worked, so many women were either ill or on vacation or had a family emergency.

[22:08] Heidi Blickenstaff: All three things were rocking that theater that night, the Eugene O'Neill, and um, and if they didn't bring someone in, they were going to have to cancel the show.

[22:21] Heidi Blickenstaff: And so they said, Nancy said to me, You're not going to be playing the Susan Hershey track, which was the ensemble track that I had played on the road. You're going to be playing the role you understudied, which is a principal role, which is Vicky Nichols, which was played by the brilliant Emily Skinner.

[22:42] Heidi Blickenstaff: And this gives me a feeling in my butt. And it was about, I don't know, four o'clock, and the show was at eight. Oh my god. Um she said, What do you think? And I said, Yeah, I'll do that.

[22:56] Heidi Blickenstaff: And so I had my diarrhea, which I would continue to have all night long. And I was like, First things first. What costumes are they gonna put me in? I was like, I can't even think about it. I can't. I and I got myself to the Eugene O'Neill. I was met at the door by Dennis Jones, who was in the show and also the dance captain.

[23:13] Heidi Blickenstaff: And he, you know, Dennis is so awesome. Dennis is now a Tony nominated choreographer, and he directs, and he's just the nicest guy in the whole world. Yeah. He put his arm around me and he was like, We're gonna be fine. Don't worry. We're gonna get you in. Don't worry.

[23:28] Heidi Blickenstaff: And we went out on stage and he walked me through, but like my brain was eating itself because I wasn't doing my track. I was doing a track that I understudied, which P.S. Like, I did go on on the road, it was the brilliant Andrea Burns who played Vicky Nichols on the road.

[23:46] Heidi Blickenstaff: Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. And um, I did go on. Andrea had a family emergency, and I went on once on the road when we were in Toronto. And um, but I hadn't touched it since. And so it had now been, I don't know, at least four months since I had even thought about Vicky Nice. And there I am like about to go on.

[24:08] Heidi Blickenstaff: Okay, so Dennis walks me through. I'm going through the lines in my head. It's not a it's not a huge role, but it's an important role. And she has two songs. She's got a big solo in the first act, and she's got a beautiful ballad. I think in the maybe later in the first act, and a reprise in the second act. Anyway, it's not nothing. It's definitely not nothing. Yeah.

[24:26] Heidi Blickenstaff: And um, so I went over the whole thing, and then was it was, you know, it was just one foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the. It was so it was happening so fast that there wasn't even time to like call anybody and say, Can you please come and see this? Come watch me in my play. I know. My Broadway debut. Can I get a witness? Like I it was crazy.

[24:48] Heidi Blickenstaff: It was it was so bananas. But anyway, so finally the the you know, stepping through it was over, and I went into the dressing room. And the other thing that is is a notable memory is that I was obsessed with Emily Skinner. And um, you know, I think when people come up in this business, they um see people that are like them.

[25:09] Heidi Blickenstaff: And when I when I saw Emily particularly in Sideshow, I was like, I I I am like that. I can do if if she can do that, I can do that. And I was so inspired by her, and she was always such she was definitely just somebody that I loved and watched and was a big fan of. And there I am in Emily Skinner's dressing room.

[25:32] Heidi Blickenstaff: And um I'm surrounded by the having diarrhea and Emily Skinner's dress room. And um, you know, I it was very Annie Golden came into my room with flowers. She brought she went to this beautiful bodega across the way and got me two dozen roses because literally nobody was there. I it all happened so fast. And Annie took such good care of me.

[25:59] Heidi Blickenstaff: But so I get in like that time. There was no like, let me take just five seconds and put this out on social media. No, no, no, no. Not possible. No. No, no, no. And um, so I got into costume, which I think they pulled understudy costumes for me. I wore some other understudy who was wasn't in the building because they were either sick or on vacation or something.

[26:19] Heidi Blickenstaff: And, you know, they were pinning clothes to me because they're either too big, too small, whatever. Not none of my clothes were there. And so my very first entrance as Vicky was with the actor Marcus Neville, who played uh uh Harold Nichols, and I met Marcus in the wings the night I went on for the first time, and he's such a cool dude, like such not met him like I'll see you in the wings, met him like it's nice to meet you. Like met him, we're going on stage in 45 seconds.

[26:51] Heidi Blickenstaff: And um he was so chill. He was like, and I'm so high strung, and by that time I had evacuated my bowels, otherwise I would have just hooped down my leather pants. But like I I and my head was spinning around me, and there's Marcus Neville, and he grabs me and we and we tango on stage and he dips me and kisses me, and he says, I'm Marcus Neville after he kisses me on stage, center stage on Broadway.

[27:18] Heidi Blickenstaff: And I I was just sort of like to him, it was just fun because it was, you know, he had done the show hundreds of times by that point. And I think he probably thought this is gonna be fun tonight, something new. And I got through it, and it was it was uh uh, you know, it all of it was a blur. Um, but that was my Broadway debut, and um I it just went moment to moment to moment, and then um I ended up playing the role because that sickness and that vacation still was lingering in the company.

[27:50] Heidi Blickenstaff: I stayed for like a week to keep playing the role, and then um there was a cast changeup, and they had me come back and I went back into the Susan Hershey ensemble part, and um, I would continue to understudy Emily. Um yeah, that was my Broadway debut. Bananas, bananas.

[28:09] Laura Camien: Um, so that was your Broadway debut. And then I think what we were asking, I think, was uh what else are you most well known for?

[28:17] Heidi Blickenstaff: Um, well, that's interesting. I mean, I it really depends on who you ask. I think that there is a it there is a certain uh Heidi fan, which I'm grateful for every last one of them that know me best for title of show. Um, and you know, that is stuff that's the show. Seuss, you may know it. Laura, you may also know it. Um the show together. It's pretty good.

[28:43] Heidi Blickenstaff: Um, but that show resonates with so many people, uh, not only the people who um saw it, but now it's done literally all over the world in colleges, high schools, regional theaters across the United States of America. And um so there are so many people that are now playing little Susan's and little Heidi's and little Jeffs and Little Hunters, and so it has had such a pervasive impact when um on Broadway, how long did we run? Just a few months.

[29:11] Laura Camien: July to October.

[29:14] Heidi Blickenstaff: That's right. It's like July to October, and we were done. And so it was a critical and um fan success, but it was not a commercial success. So um if if you're the kind of fan that is um that is getting all your Broadway love from cast recordings, um, a lot of people know me from something rotten or from um uh oh Freaky Friday. Um I like there oh yeah, that was a good one.

[29:45] Heidi Blickenstaff: What's interesting. Before Freaky Friday happened, I I felt like my biggest fan base were I mostly was I I had the gay men, but then I did freaky Friday, and now I have gay men and seven-year old girls.

[30:00] Laura Camien: And you got the kids.

[30:01] Heidi Blickenstaff: I got the kids. I run the gamut. But um, you know, I've been lucky enough to do all kinds of different Broadway shows, um, like classical shows. Like I did this, one of my favorite things I ever did was a um a revival at City Cent City Center Encores of Most Happy Fella, uh dressed by Casey Law. And um, that was one of my very favorite things ever in the world.

[30:28] Heidi Blickenstaff: And every now and then when somebody walks up to me, they say, I saw you in Most Happy Fella, and I loved that so much. But you're it you're right. Like people come at me from all like I will be in a Target and I'll be buying school supplies for my kid, and there'll be a four-year-old boy that will come up to me and say, Are you the mom in Freaky Friday? I'll be like, Oh, yeah, I got them everywhere.

[30:51] Heidi Blickenstaff: So I will take them. I love them. And um they're coming out of the racks at Target. No, this is this is actually a hilarious story. There, that little boy was stalking me in the school supplies section at Target, and he didn't say anything yet. And his mom eventually came back with him holding his hand, and she said, I'm sorry that he's um he's staring at you.

[31:14] Heidi Blickenstaff: He keeps telling me you were in a movie, and I told him, No, she was not. And the little boy was like, Yes, she was, she was. Aren't you the mom from Freaky Friday? And I said, I am, and then she was so embarrassed, and we laughed and laughed. When kids are right, when when four-year-olds are right, kids are right.

[31:34] Laura Camien: That is an amazing thing.

[31:35] Heidi Blickenstaff: They're right. Up to a certain point, you spent your life being an interpretive artist. Yeah, that's right, and then you have transitioned into being a creative, an originating artist.

[31:41] Heidi Blickenstaff: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And producer, I want to hear about this. Can you produce tell us about how like what it is and how it came to be.

[31:58] Heidi Blickenstaff: I I will. I would love to. When I bump into something that inspires me, I dump it in the spark fire. Spark could be something that I want to make or how I wanna be. I pump it in the spark fire. Spark. I jump into my spark fire. Spark. Let's open up the spark fire.

[32:29] Laura Camien: That was part one of our conversation with Heidi Blickenstaff. Part two will be available next week. Unless it's the future, and then it's available now. So go on, give it a listen, and find out what's sparking Heidi these days.