Playwright Alfred Uhry, composer Laurence O'Keefe and lyricist Nell Benjamin's new musical will trace the downfall of a vain, tyrannical star, the songwriter told Playbill On-Line.

The show, for which Uhry is writing the libretto, is tentatively titled Who the Hell Are You? "It's about a colossal star who gets what's coming to her," said O'Keefe. Is the character based on any star in particular? "It's based on every star that you know and I know."

Uhry said earlier that the musical is on the silly side and he was having great fun writing the book.

O'Keefe and Benjamin will meet with Uhry just before Thanksgiving and work on the project for about a month. Several companies are interested in staging a workshop, said O'Keefe.

O'Keefe wrote music and lyrics for the offbeat Off Broadway show, Bat Boy, which flapped its way through a West Coast staging and several developmental readings over the past few years, finally landing at Off Broadway's Union Square Theatre on March 3, 2001. It posted a closing notice for Sept. 23, 2001, but has become a hot title in regional theatres. O'Keefe won a 2001 Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award. He also composed music to The Mice, a one-act musical that is one third of a trio of tuners under the umbrella title, 3hree. Benjamin penned the lyrics for The Mice.

Pulitzer Prize winner Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy) wrote the lyrics and book for The Robber Bridegroom and the book for Parade (to say nothing of lyrics to the flop 1968 "East of Eden" musical called Here's Where I Belong).

—By Robert Simonson