Vintage Theatre’s [title of show] is a funny, intimate look at the messy process of making a musical.

After watching a duet between a blank piece of paper and a writer that soon segues into a musical number called “Monkeys and Playbills” with four actors frantically waving Playbills from shows like All Shook Up and Hairspray in search of inspiration, [title of show] makes one thing clear: This is not the glamorous version of how a Broadway musical gets made.

It is the awkward, anxious, high-stakes, searching and frequently ridiculous version.

Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen’s four-person meta-musical follows two aspiring writers creating an original show about themselves, their two actress friends and the very process of writing that show, all while dreaming that their scrappy little project might somehow make it to Broadway.

The myriad musical theater references make this a show proudly created by and for theater people. Yet its underlying questions about staying true to what you believe in when others ask you to make it more palatable can ring true for anyone who has ever attempted to create something.

Vintage Theatre’s production, directed by Nick Martinez, is largely satisfying, if a little surface-level in its interpretation.

Four chairs and a musical

The show fits naturally on Vintage’s Berg-Young Cabaret Stage. There are four chairs, a bulletin board and some posters, but little other set dressing. The entire production is brought to life in a deliberately metatheatrical fashion by four actors — Travis Hudson as composer Jeff, Caden Riehle as book writer Hunter, Emily Johnson as Susan and Savannah Marino as Heidi — along with music director Aldo Allgoode as pianist Larry.

That simplicity allows the comedy to thrive. Riehle is especially amusing during “An Original Musical,” appearing as a literal blank piece of paper while Jeff tries to find inspiration. “Monkeys and Playbills,” which involves the cast flinging around programs from Broadway shows, similarly captures the absurd ways inspiration can strike.

Johnson and Marino provide much of the evening’s strongest work. Johnson makes Susan a larger-than-life physical comedian with a wonderfully dry sensibility, committing completely to “Die, Vampire, Die!” Marino’s Heidi is a working ensemble member who dreams of finally having a lead role, creating an entertaining tension between the women during “What Kind of Girl Is She?”

Their “Secondary Characters” duet is a comic highlight, while Marino gives “A Way Back to Then” genuine emotional weight as Heidi longs for the simpler days when friendship and making something together mattered more than commercial success.

That vulnerability is where the production could use more consistency.

Hudson has a fine singing voice, but his Jeff remains restrained for much of the evening. Late in the show, Jeff admits that he is afraid to let people know how much he cares, yet Hudson rarely lets us see that care beneath the surface. The result makes his conflict with Hunter feel more rehearsed than immediate.

Riehle grows more compelling as Hunter becomes increasingly desperate to compromise the musical for a shot at commercial success, making the imbalance between the two friends more noticeable. For all the show’s Brechtian jokes and fourth-wall breaking, their friendship still needs to feel emotionally true.

One contemporary shrug at a reference to Ellen also feels unnecessary. The characters carry flip phones because [title of show] is rooted in the early 2000s when Bell and Bowen actually created it; commenting on the reference’s present-day irrelevance muddies that context rather than sharpening the joke.

There were also opening-night sound problems. Allgoode’s piano sounds excellent but can overwhelm the actors when their microphones cut out, making some dialogue difficult to understand.

Still, the show’s central idea remains resonant, particularly in Colorado theater. Hunter and Jeff dream about Broadway before realizing they would rather be nine people’s favorite thing than 100 people’s ninth favorite thing.

Most theater created here will never transfer to Broadway. That hardly makes creating it less worthwhile.

[title of show] is ultimately about the joy of making art with people you care about, and Vintage tells that story with enough wit and affection to make this quirky little musical worth fitting into the middle of your week.