Fleming gets to sing only incidentally, but every time she provides a brief soprano sampling, the notes are pure and the pleasure heightens. Fleming has long experience of acting in her opera roles, so it is no surprise to see her acting effectively in this play. Her performance is tongue-in-cheek with a knowing air that she is a star having fun with her role as a diva and her comic timing is on target.

Kathleen Marshall has smartly directed the production, with its far-fetched plot involving an excellent Douglas Sills playing the over-the-top Vito De Angelis, an egocentric maestro married to Fleming as Raquel De Angelis, a diva trying to face the fact that her career has declined to the point of her being offered only inferior bookings. The mere mention of Maria Callas makes her cringe.

Robert Samson, amusingly played by Jerry O’Connell, really aspires to penning the great American novel. But to earn money, although he is a fawning admirer of Raquel, he is on an assignment to write Vito’s memoir. Robert finds himself stymied and unable to make any progress as a result of his subject’s incessant egotistical chatter and inability to concentrate on the project. In Vito’s mangling of English, instead of calling Robert his ghost writer, he calls him his “spooky helper.” That will give you an idea of the intended laugh lines.

Matters heat up when the very funny Anna Chlumsky enters the scene as Iris Peabody, sent by the publisher to speed up the writing process. Robert soon announces in exasperation that he is quitting. Ever with an eye for the ladies, Vito enlists Iris to write the book instead. Robert is delighted when the competitive Raquel asks him to write her memoir.

Thus the husband-wife ego battle escalates, and amid lots of funny posturing, Raquel’s bursts of aria snippets, and in-jokes about opera designed to please Fleming enthusiasts, eventually there is a refreshed tenderness between Vito and Raquel. And, as one might expect, romance is in the air for Iris and Robert.

Entertaining pluses are the tandem performances of Bruce (Blake Hammond) and Eric (Scott Robertson), the household butlers, who are show-stealers and sure applause-getters. They are written into the comedy in a major way, and they sing too.

If all this isn’t enough for you, there is Raquel’s dog named Puccini, played by Trixie, who has a Broadway past having appeared as Mr. Woofles in “Bullets Over Broadway.”

Derek McLane has designed a lavish Manhattan penthouse—the play is set in 1957--and costume designer Michael Krass has provided Fleming with just the right outfits to befit every occasion. Whatever she is wearing, whether meant to be flattering or satirical, Fleming looks great.