Renee Fleming Talks Broadway's LIVING ON LOVE: 'It's Been a Challenge'

Today's New York Post Page Six shares comments from legendary opera star Renée Fleming, who will make her Broadway debut in LIVING ON LOVE on April 20th at the Longacre Theater.

"It's a comedy, a farce, and I've become addicted to making people laugh," explains the performer. "It all began when Alec Baldwin and I did a reading for a Carnegie Hall benefit. The idea grew."

She continued, "But we opera singers are used to strangling lyric sopranos dying from consumption. In theater, however, silences can be intimidating. I certainly can't immediately do my first-ever play right on Broadway, so we tried it out of town."

Fleming admits that taking on the lead in a Broadway musical has been a daunting task. "It's been a challenge. You use a different part of the brain. Actor friends like Cherry Jones helped when I asked, 'How's this work . . . that work . . . ?' Listen, I'm used to 3- to 4-hour long operas. Singing, my day job, is sometimes in little bits and pieces, like the Super Bowl in front of 110 million people."

She shares that visulization has helped her take on the challenge. "Mental preparation's the key. You sense the worst until you feel fine. Visualize so nothing will be a surprise. Everyone struggles with stage fright. I'm consistently magnifying the fear factor. But we never did eight performances a week in opera."

Asked to describe her character, Fleming offers, "I play a narcissistic, larger-than-life diva. Huge, pampered opera star. Stale marriage. He's a mad Italian conductor. We have affairs. There are financial problems but, still, two butlers. A co-star's a Pomeranian dog called Puccini. Since I carry her around, no one else is allowed to pet her."

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Broadway's newest comedy Living on Love by two-time Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro, based on the play Peccadillo by Garson Kanin, and directed by three-time Tony Award winnerKathleen Marshallbegins performances on Wednesday, April 1, 2015 and opens on Monday, April 20, 2015 at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street). The production will play an 18-week engagement through Sunday, August 2, 2015. Tickets are now on sale to the general public. For more information, visitwww.LivingonLoveBroadway.com

The world's most famous opera singer Renée Fleming plays the world's most famous opera singer in this hilarious new screwball comedy. When her larger-than-life maestro husband (Sills) becomes enamored with the lovely young lady (Chlumsky) hired to ghostwrite his largely fictional autobiography, the diva retaliates by hiring her own handsome, young scribe (O'Connell) to chronicle her life as an opera star. Sparks fly, silverware is thrown, and romance blossoms in the most unexpected ways.

Photo Credit: Andrew Eccles