Star act playing Ophelia exuding distress over tragedy? (11)
I believe the answer is:
catastrophe
'tragedy?' is the definition.
('catastrophe' can be a synonym of 'tragedy')
'star act playing ophelia exuding distress' is the wordplay.
'playing' indicates an anagram.
'exuding' is a deletion indicator.
'distress' becomes 'ail' (ail can mean to trouble or distress).
'ophelia' with 'ail' taken out is 'ophe'.
'star'+'act'='staract'
'staract' anagrammed gives 'catastr'.
'catastr'+'ophe'='CATASTROPHE'
'over' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for catastrophe that I've seen before include "Denouement" , "final event" , "Terrible event" , "Calamity" , "Great disaster" .)