ART OF A DIFFERENT SORT ACTOR MAXIMILIAN SCHELL BRINGS A NEW, EXACTING SENSIBILITY TO L.A. OPERA STAGING OF 'DER ROSENKAVALIER'.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

COMPARING Maximilian Schell to one of those purportedly extinct jungle species makes perfect sense. Those who have never observed Schell working will be forgiven doubting the continued existence of such a creature. And those who have are unlikely ever to forget it.

The Vienna-born Schell is best-known to Americans as a film actor. He won an Oscar as best actor in 1962 for playing an attorney defending Nazi war criminals in Stanley Kramer's ``Judgment at Nuremburg,'' and the Academy nominated him twice more in the 1970s, for ``The Man in the Glass Booth'' and ``Julia.''

But after decades of film and then television work, to say nothing of his European stage commitments, Schell, 74, is stepping out of the spotlight with increasing frequency and into a director's chair.

In some ways, this is nothing new. He's directed seven movies since 1970, including the imaginative and probing documentary ``Marlene,'' which was nominated for an Oscar in 1985. His last film, ``My Sister Maria'' (2002), examines the life of his actress sister.

Her death last month took him briefly away from his current project, directing the Los Angeles Opera's last production of the season, Richard Strauss' ``Der Rosenkavalier,'' which opens Sunday night. The assignment, which is starting to look like a habit, is his second for the company - the first was Wagner's ``Lohengrin'' in fall 2001 - and only his fourth outing as an opera director.

``Unless you count 'Snow White,' with music by Schubert,'' says Schell, sipping coffee in the office of company general director Placido Domingo before a rehearsal. ``But I was only 16 then, so it doesn't really count.''

In fact, Schell came to opera late in life, his first foray directing it a Swiss production of Verdi's ``Traviata.''

``Opera always was an enigma for me,'' he says in the polished English of a veteran theater actor. ``I think I was too much bound to reality.'' That grounding stemmed from his experience in the theater and his early break with the grand traditions of high German theater in favor of naturalism. ``American theater has such an advantage,'' he says. ``Think of Tennessee Williams; he wrote as people talk.''

But things began to change when he starred in the medieval morality play ``Jedermann'' (or ``Everyman'' in English) in Salzburg, Austria, for five years in the late 1970s and early '80s. There, he met musical luminaries like conductors Leonard Bernstein, James Levine and Claudio Abbado.

Those encounters led Schell to consider directing opera. For inspiration, he drew on his experiences with the great - some would say infamous - German actor and director Gustaf Grundgens.

``Grundgens used to say, 'I would like to sing the song of the fantastic unnature, without which art cannot exist,' '' recalls Schell, adding, ``This comment cannot be translated out of German, but that's what I hope to do when I stage an opera.''

Watching Schell in rehearsal, one is struck by his obsession with detail. He seems to spend an uncommonly long time repositioning glassware on a table. Or showing one singer just how close he can come to another when introducing his character. Or demonstrating how outstretched an arm should be to receive a kiss.

And that's precisely what's needed here, according to the L.A. Opera music director Kent Nagano, who will be conducting the production and who previously worked with Schell on ``Lohengrin.''

``One of Max's greatest gifts,'' says Nagano, ``is his deep cultivation, not only as a theater actor but also in other art forms, including music, literature, painting, not to mention his knowledge about European history. All this helps him provide images to the singers, as well as to the musical staff. He brings us layers and dimensions that we often don't receive from directors.''

The company's artistic director, Edgar Baitzel, offers similar praise. ``Max's experience not just as a director but also as an actor is tremendous,'' he says. ``His eye is incredible. Everybody admits that. And he truly knows how these different arts interact.''

Certainly ``Rosenkavalier,'' with music by Strauss and a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, is an opera with many facets. A favorite throughout the world since its premiere in 1911, it is set in late 18th-century Vienna and charts love's course in the lives of well-born characters, some young and others middle-age and older. It is, ultimately, a bittersweet tale, rife with nuance.

Nagano seems flustered, though, when asked about the particulars of Schell's staging. ``It's a bit early to ask me that,'' he says, even as opening night is only two weeks away. ``Much of the evolution takes place in very subtle and almost imperceptible ways. I would hesitate to tell you what Max's concept is right now.''

So would Schell, it seems. He clearly prefers to discuss this production in general terms, avoiding specifics about sets, costumes and lighting. ``The Rococo is the period in which 'Rosenkavalier' takes place, and I think it's wrong to update it,'' he says. ``I cannot describe it really. I think art is maybe to make the impossible possible. And it should always be a puzzle and remain an enigma. The greatest things you cannot explain. Can you explain the idea of Picasso? You can admire it, that's all.''

But Baitzel may have some insights here. ``I think Max enjoys going on a journey very much,'' he says. ``He's really good at finding the emotion and diving deeply into the characters. It's a pity for opera that he did not direct more.''

DER ROSENKAVALIER

What: Maximilian Schell directs the Los Angeles Opera's production of ``Der Rosenkavalier'' by Richard Strauss.

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

When: 6 p.m. Sunday; 7 p.m. June 1, 8, 11 and 16; 2 p.m. June 4 and 19.

Tickets: $25 to $190. [phone], www.laopera.com.

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Photo:

Best-known as a film actor and director, the Oscar-winning Maximilian Schell is applying his theory of ``fantastic unnature'' to the opera.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer