Smith, who was born in Houston, died of a drug overdose two years ago in Florida.
The show will have music by British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage. The libretto is by Richard Thomas, co-creator of "Jerry Springer: The Opera," an earlier merger of highbrow and lowbrow culture.
Director of opera Elaine Padmore told The Guardian newspaper the Smith show "is not going to be tawdry; it is going to be witty, clever, thoughtful and sad."
Smith was Playboy's Playmate of the Year in 1993, and the next year married a Houston oilman -- 89-year-old J. Howard Marshall II. After his death she fought a protracted legal battle over his estimated $500 million fortune.
Smith died five months after the Bahamas death of her 20-year-old son, Daniel.
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