NEW YORK — Crackerjack director, producer and show creator Andrew Rasmussen has been steadily building his reputation in the Twin Cities over the past decade or so with noteworthy productions of shows such as "Rent" and "The Wild Party."

Now he is about to find out if he can claw his way into bigtime.

"Mrs. Smith's Broadway Cat-tackular!," which Rasmussen directs and produces, and which he also co-wrote with performer David Hanbury, is about to open at the 47th Street Theatre in Times Square.

The show was developed in the Twin Cities, where it played at Patrick's Cabaret and Bryant-Lake Bowl and was funded in part by a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council.

A quirky cabaret, it is built around Hanbury's quirky alter-ego, a woman who has had 14 husbands and has now lost her show-biz cat, Carlyle. Bereft, she puts on a show in order to win public sympathy, and to find her feline.

"Mrs. Smith" began previews a week ago, and will officially open July 20.

Dan Norman Photography LLC, Star Tribune

Rasmussen noted that it's taken three and a half years, and eight productions, to get it to the Big Apple. The last, and perhaps, biggest production was in Boston (Hanbury's hometown), where it played at Harvard's American Repertory Theatre.

The Boston Globe called that production, which took place last fall, "thoroughly demented and funny."

Rasmussen is hoping for similar notices in New York.

"This is the little show that could," he said giddily. "We made it from the basement of Patrick's Cabaret and Bryant Lake Bowl to A.R.T. and now officially off Broadway."