The creators of hit musical Jerry Springer: The Opera have started work on a new opera based on the life of tragic star Anna Nicole Smith.

The production is being written by Richard Thomas and Mark-Anthony Turnage, and will be staged at London’s Royal Opera House, accompanied by a 90-piece orchestra.

The story will focus on Smith’s life story and end with her tragic death from a drugs overdose in 2007. And Thomas insists the late glamour model is the perfect subject as she is a modern pop culture icon.

He says, “It’s an incredible story. It’s very operatic and sad. She was quite a smart lady with the tragic flaw that she could not seem to get through life without a vat of prescription drugs. For me, (the story) ends when she does. It’s an American story. I love American culture. Especially for the opera, the stories seem to work on a grander more epic scale.”