'LUCIA'S' FAULTS FATAL.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

THIS SEASON has seen the Los Angeles Opera swing between the excellent (``Damnation of Faust'') and the execrable (``Nicholas and Alexandra''), so maybe it was inevitable that the company would eventually return to business as usual. Too bad it's happened with something as potentially interesting as a new production of Donizetti's ``Lucia di Lammermoor,'' which opened Nov. 22 with the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko in the lead.

Netrebko is that dark-eyed Russian beauty everyone's suddenly raving about. But American opera mavens have known about her since 1995, when she began appearing at the San Francisco Opera. ``Lucia'' marks her Los Angeles Opera debut and also her first time singing the exacting role of Lucia, the Scottish beauty driven to murder and madness by a bullying brother and a hotheaded lover.

And Netrebko was clearly ready for her close-up on the moors. Her girlish mannerisms, lithe physique and silvery voice are well suited to the role, and she is a fine actress. Her mad scene, which many in the audience were already anticipating the minute conductor Julius Rudel stepped into the pit, proved a triumph, as full of conviction as it was rife with effortless coloratura, bel canto fluidity and flute-like tones.

If only everything else had been up to her standard. But Marthe Keller's production, which had its premiere last year at the Washington Opera, succumbed to too many cliches to be credible. Keller is perhaps best-known for playing icy female leads in several major French movies from the 1970s, and one can't help but wish she had summoned some of that grit here.

Instead, this stiff-moving ``Lucia'' was a jumble of self-mocking styles and effects. The inordinate number of antlers on the walls of Lammermoor Castle (bafflingly designed by James Noone as a tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright) and the excessive fog, rain and lightning all contributed to that impression. And why did the moon in the garden scene resemble a chocolate-chip cookie? Why, for that matter, did Jess Goldstein dress the chorus, portraying Scottish highlanders, as though they were living in the Wild West? Perhaps it was to divert attention from Jonathan Lunn's clumsy choreography.

Despite the stage's sogginess, the performers were on firmer ground. Most of the singing on opening night, including Netrebko's, gained in strength as the evening wore on. This was especially true of Edgardo, the object of Lucia's affections, for tenor Jose Bros had a pronounced nasal twang and swallowed many of his words at the outset. But by the opera's end, when Edgardo is consumed by grief, Bros' voice had finally bloomed.

Baritone Franco Vassallo, as Lucia's seething, scheming brother Enrico, was more effective overall, his singing clear and forward, though his low notes were at first troubling. Some credit should go to Keller for giving both Vassallo and Netrebko credible red wigs, making their familial connection that much stronger.

Opening night's biggest surprise came in the form of two singers in supporting roles. In most ``Lucia'' productions, one barely notices the chaplain Raimondo and Arturo, Lucia's contracted husband, though both sing in the opera's famed sextet. But here, Russian bass Vitalij Kowaljow (as the clergyman) and Croatian tenor Kresimir Spicer (as the ill-fated spouse) stood out. Both, in their different ways, had big, rich voices and formidable stage presence.

It's hard to believe that the 82-year-old Rudel, an opera-house legend, had never before conducted this opera publicly. And though his work in the pit left something to be desired in terms of inspiration and variety, he moved the score along and supported the singers fully. Under the circumstances, that was enough.

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR - Two and one half stars

Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 7:30 p.m. today, Thursday, Dec. 12 and 17; 2 p.m. Dec. 7, 14 and 20.

Tickets: $25 to $170. [phone] or www.losangelesopera.com.

In a nutshell: A sparkling Anna Netrebko lends freshness to ``Lucia,'' but even she can't banish the gloom from Marthe Keller's disappointing production.

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Edgardo (Franco Vassallo) is consumed with grief as Lucia (Anna Netrebko) takes her own life in the Los Angeles Opera production of ``Lucia di Lammermoor.''