In 2010 celebrated singer, actor, director, and gay icon Barbra Streisand released “My Passion for Design,” a coffee table book full of photos and text by her about her extravagant Malibu estate, or more precisely, her exceptional wealth and good taste.

It was an invitation to mockery and jealousy, like so much of Babs’ career and public persona, but one over-the-top detail in the book captured the imagination of playwright Jonathan Tolins. Inspired by a decorative arts museum in Delaware, Streisand transformed a barn basement into a shopping mall full of her stuff. Tolins ran with this ridiculous fact and created a satire in which there is a clerk who organizes, dusts, prices and sells all the objects as well as mans the popcorn and frozen yogurt machines for the singular, predictably demanding, customer.

The result is “Buyer & Cellar,” a witty and hilarious one-man show, now playing at Mason Street Warehouse. Nic Cory plays Alex More, a two-bit L.A. actor who’s just been fired from a job as mayor of Toontown at Disneyland and lands the gig as the “stranger dressed as Mr. Whipple in [Barbra’s] basement.” Cory also plays Barry, Alex’s delightfully snarky boyfriend, “an underemployed screenwriter and habitual TCM watcher”; Sharon, Streisand’s personal assistant who suffers no fools; James Brolin; and the diva, of course, herself.

He embodies and juggles the characters and dynamic scenes between them with aplomb, and though he does a wonderful job physically channelling Streisand with small gestures and postures, his vocal acrobatics and achievements are the most impressive. In fact, this show would make for an excellent radio drama.

The set, designed by Stephen Dobay, is simple and dressed all in white, and features a false proscenium, two tables, a chair and a bench against a backdrop of 60 drawers. Jennifer Kules lights it mostly in pastels, and the lighting design beautifully creates distinct shifts in time and scene, as does the music, often snippets from Streisand’s most memorable films.

Director Michael Heitzman puts it all together with blocking that fills the stage and creates convincing spaces, though Cory’s delivery of the smart and funny dialogue can practically stand alone. Heavy with pop culture references, especially to Streisand’s career, it both celebrates and makes fun of gays, Jews, Brooklyn, and L.A., and the best audiences will be savvy about all of the above and understand more than a little Yiddish.

The right audience is crucial to this performance. Since Cory has no other actors to play with on stage, he relies on energy from the crowd to fuel him. The biggest energy and laughs come from the high-pitched scenes between Barry and Alex, and Barry’s incredibly funny synopsis and analysis of “The Mirror Has Two Faces” is practically worth the cost of admission.

Above all, the pleasures of this show are in witnessing the great imaginative powers of obsession unfold with delight. It’s a wonderful conceit in homage to one of our greatest living icons and all of us who may aspire to be such a worthy diva.

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