Towards the end of When Playwrights Kill, an ambitious and increasingly desperate playwright, Jack Hawkins (Matt Doyle), is told an anecdote by Freddie Carlton (Adam Heller), the producer of his upcoming Broadway play. It is about Terrence McNally and his first Broadway play, And Things That Go Bump in the Night, which opened to withering reviews. “It would have been better if the playwright’s parents had smothered him in his cradle,” he says, quoting one. But he adds that McNally went on to huge success, winning some five Tony Awards.

But this new play made me think of another McNally: It’s Only a Play, which he wrote based upon his disastrous experiences with his play called Broadway, Broadway, that closed in Philadelphia. He rewrote it and his revised version, about a group of theater professionals waiting for the reviews of their latest play at its opening-night party, was a hit, finally making it to Broadway in 2014 where it ran for nine months.

That very funny play comes to mind when watching Matthew Lombardo’s very funny play about battling egos, ambition, and the extremes show people will go to in order to achieve their dreams. And like McNally, Lombardo was inspired by his own experience: the disastrous run of his Tea at Five starring Faye Dunaway at the Huntington Theatre, where When Playwrights Kill continues through April 18. Channeling that experience into this play and returning to the scene of the crime only makes you think that if you looked up ‘meta’ in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Lombardo.

His diva is Brooke Remington (Beth Leavel), an Oscar-winning actress famous for being difficult to work with whose career is on the skids. The Return, the play Hawkins has written, is about a famous actress seeking a comeback. It seems like a perfect match, except for one thing: Brooke can no longer remember lines or take stage direction. She is a big personality with big issues, which include a drug habit that is revealed when her Chanel bag is opened and out fall a rainbow-colored assortment of pills that Jack and Liz Jennings (Marissa Jaret Winokur), the play’s stage manager, identify using an online pill identifier.

There is a certain amount of documented dish about Dunaway that Lombardo includes, such as the use of an earpiece through which a prompter fed her lines from backstage; but his diva is no Mommie Dearest—rather a complicated and troubled actress afraid she’s lost her mojo. That’s not to suggest he sentimentalizes her – on the contrary, Brooke is toxic, but a lot of fun to spend an evening with, especially with Beth Leavel playing the part. From the moment she enters spouting insults wearing a disheveled mink, she’s like a character out of a Charles Busch play. Her Brooke has the authority of Holland Taylor crossed with the physical comedy of Jinkx Monsoon, a laugh-inducing combination if there ever was one. Plus her ever-changing wardrobe is eye-catching, notably the Met Gala-ish red gown in which she is last seen. (The terrific costumes are by Alejo Vietti.)

Lombardo frames his play with Jack telling the audience of the feud between Mary Tyler Moore and Neil Simon when she was appearing in his play Rose’s Dilemma in 2003. Using his wife as a messenger, Simon sent Moore a note chiding her for not knowing her lines shortly before a matinee performance; an enraged Moore stormed out of the theater, never to return and never to speak to Simon again. Towards the end Lombardo nicely textures this story into his narrative in a way that defines the dynamic between Jack and Brooke.

The first half follows the play through casting, rehearsals, and the Boston opening; the second follows through to New York, as narrated by Jack. Lombardo surrounds him with sharply realized character types: a producer who is Broadway’s flop king, (nicely played by Adam Heller); a veteran Broadway director who has seen it all (Kevin Chamberlin, delightfully bearish); the level-headed stage manager (Marissa Jaret Winokur, endearing); and a non-binary prompter whose only theatrical credit is Dreamgirls at Rikers Island (the show’s breakout talent, the sensational Tomás Matos). But at its center is Jack Hawkins (Matt Doyle), who is like Bobby from Company: very personable, but a bit vacant. His world begins and ends with this play; if there’s more to him, Lombardo doesn’t let on. Matt Doyle plays him as a nice blend of naïveté and desperation, with a dash of sarcasm – a winning combination. If only there were more to him.

Nor does the play’s tacked-on ending work with what comes before it. But why quibble about the last ten minutes when what comes before them is so much fun? Noah Himmelstein’s staging is in perfect pitch with Lombardo’s writing – sleek, fast-moving, and authentic in its depiction of its backstage world. In terms of pacing, he is abetted by Alexander Dodge’s set: a false perspective of a room at an angle with paneling used as doors; as well as the expressive lighting by Elizabeth Harper. And the arrival of the play’s biggest prop is also one of its funniest moments – no spoiler as to what it actually is.

At one point the producer wonders if a play can succeed on Broadway without a movie or television star being attached to it. Unfortunately, that’s a reality the producers of this play must face as they decide what’s next for Lombardo’s smart and funny play. Can it ride to success with a great title and a dishy backstory as to how it came to be? Or does it need someone like Jean Smart to sell tickets?

When Playwrights Kill continues through April 18 at the Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA. For further information, visit the play’s website at this link.

Watch this preview reel of scenes from When Playwrights Kill: