'PAGLIACCI' KILLS - LITERALLY AND QUITE FIGURATIVELY, TOO.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

SUCH IS THE combined star power of tenor Roberto Alagna and soprano Angela Gheorghiu that even Franco Zeffirelli's highly illuminated production of Ruggero Leoncavallo's ``Pagliacci'' cannot outshine them. Proof of that came Sunday afternoon, when the Los Angeles Opera revived the director's busy, modern-dress staging of this last word in circus blood lust.

Alagna and Gheorghiu, who are married in real life, are individually among the world's great singers. Together they are an operatic phenomenon: gifted singing actors whose uncommon physical attractiveness is exceeded only by their ability to electrify a stage.

So it was with real anticipation that opera lovers greeted the news two months ago that Alagna, replacing the previously announced Ben Heppner, would join his wife in this production, first mounted exactly nine years ago for Placido Domingo and not presented in Los Angeles since.

The role of Canio, the murderously jealous clown married to an unfaithful wife, does not leap to mind when one thinks of Alagna, whose voice is more naturally suited to less taxing, more lyrical parts. And the tenor's genial stage presence and gift for slapstick have secured his reputation in comic, rather than dramatic, material.

So his success here was by no means assured. Indeed, his snarling entrance signaled trouble, his voice sounding pinched, his vibrato irritatingly elongated. Yet his acting was uncompromised - his glare suggesting a dangerous possessive streak, his swagger a wife beater.

But not until the opera's most famous music, the anguished aria ``Vesti la giubba,'' did Alagna come into his own. Freed from vocal constriction, he sang vigorously, pleasingly and movingly.

By contrast, Gheorghiu didn't need time to warm to her role. Her coquettish, rather than sultry Nedda was enchantingly voiced from her first notes, which, as always, glowed from within. In her portrayal, Nedda's infidelity - depicted on stage in lovemaking scenes with Silvio (virile baritone Mariusz Kwiecien) - seemed fueled by love rather than lust. And chillingly, her fear of Canio was visceral.

Baritone Alberto Mastromarino may strike some as too smarmy and unsympathetic for the role of Tonio, who introduces the opera and facilitates its tragic arc. But he sang warmly and expressively, and his enigmatic smirk at the opera's conclusion left a lasting impression.

Nicola Luisotti conducted the score with a conviction presumably only native Italians can muster. His ability to engage the orchestra to share his enthusiasm should be noted, for too often such music trudges when it should rage.

Zeffirelli's production, this time directed by his protege Marco Gandini, has been knocked for its extravagance - the action takes place under a highway overpass and in front of a meticulously detailed, dilapidated apartment building. But what could be truer to the verismo spirit of this opera than what Zeffirelli has wrought? And never has updating an opera been as smoothly accomplished as here.

Gandini proved an expert traffic cop, which in this production amounts to highest praise. And the final scene, in which Canio - presto-chango - turns from clowning to double homicide, had all the tension of a first-rate thriller, plus the added bonus of watching Alagna and Gheorghiu put the drama back in melodrama.

PAGLIACCI - Four stars

What: Franco Zeffirelli's elaborate production of Ruggero Leoncavallo's most famous work returns to the L.A. Opera.

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

When: 7:30 tonight, Saturday and Sept. 21 and 29; 2 p.m. Sept. 24 and Oct. 1.

Tickets: $30-$205. [phone]; www.losangelesopera.com.

In a nutshell: Taming a spectacle, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu make a tragic tale grippingly intimate.

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Tenor Roberto Alagna sings the role of Canio in the L.A. Oper a production of ``Pagliacci,'' at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.