Since she's calling the tune, why not sing a few?

Fisher admits: "I always had a lot of fear. When I was a kid and went onstage and sang, I used to be such a perfectionist that it just destroyed me." That's why she stumbled into movie acting rather than musical theater. Showbiz was in her blood, but "I did not get into that thing where you go flat out into what your parents do."

Much like the signs leading to her house, the old songs will acquire new meaning by virtue of the context. For example, a lyric from "West Side Story's" "A Boy Like That / I Have a Love" -- \o7"Stick to your own kind"\f7 -- is sung in reference to Fisher's failed relationship with Creative Artists Agency managing director Bryan Lourd, the father of Fisher's 14-year-old daughter, Billie, who left Fisher for a man.

Of course, that song may or may not be in the show. At this early rehearsal, surrounded by shower, tub and sink, all is yet to be determined. The show, written by Fisher, will have plenty of songs, but its director, Josh Ravetch, frets seemingly to anyone who will listen: "We still don't have an \o7opener\f7."

Pianist Jerry Sternbach -- who can play any show tune on request and, speaking of Broadway, thinks the new "Chorus Line" can't \o7possibly\f7 match the original magic -- marvels at the room's superior acoustics. Fisher has nurtured the career of pop musician James Blunt, who once worked on his songs at this very piano. Sternbach will accompany Fisher onstage.

Also present in the chamber are Fisher's assistant and co-producer, Kim Painter, and Fisher's two small, fluffy dogs, Dwight and the Dalai Lama, who waddle in and out on short legs. Oh, yes, and singer Rickie Lee Jones ("Chuck E.'s in Love"), a friend who just happened to stop by but was drawn to the sound of music like a pop-diva moth to the flame.

One Western boot beating rhythm on the terra cotta tile, Jones offers soulful snatches of a few tunes she thinks might be great for the show. Fisher collapses to the floor in mock distress. "I can't sing that -- it's too '\o7range\f7-y' " she pleads as Jones' piercing voice rockets up the scale.

But in a conversation in her spacious backyard after the rehearsal, Fisher says she's game to let it all hang out, musically and emotionally. This may come as no surprise to readers of her novels, which have offered fictionalized versions of her real-life travails.

But this time, for the first time, Fisher says, she's telling her own story with her real name attached. And why not, she reasons. It's all out there anyway.