L.A. OPERA RIDING STRAUSS TO THE EDGE.

Byline: David Mermelstein Correspondent

LOOK TOO closely at a fairy tale and you spoil the magic. And so it is with ``Die Frau Ohne Schatten'' (``The Woman Without a Shadow''), the most wildly fable-like of Richard Strauss' collaborations with Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Strauss' lush, ecstatic score promises a heady, occasionally moving musical experience. But read Hofmannsthal's libretto, projected as English supertitles, and the spell may break. Unless, that is, German family values fire your imagination.

Strauss was always a composer of two minds: at once deeply romantic and in the thrall of Victorian domesticity. ``Frau'' puts both passions on vivid display, though it's pretty clear which the Los Angeles Opera favors. Remounting its acclaimed 1993 production - with David Hockney's sensationally sensuous sets - for the first time, the company is staking a claim at being the most risk-taking opera house in America, at least through mid-March, when this production and Robert Wilson's stunning reconception of ``Madama Butterfly'' close.

Though Hockney and costume designer Ian Falconer, a Hockney protege who worked hand-in-glove with his mentor on this and other operas, were absent from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Sunday night at the start of this revival, their spirit was palpable. Hockney's sets are a riot of color and undulation, a perfect complement to Strauss' irresistible score, which the company's music director, Kent Nagano, conducted with enviable attention to orchestral detail and interpretive nuance.

Taking a page from Shakespeare's book, Strauss and Hofmannsthal built ``Frau'' around the travails of two couples - one noble, the other plebian. The former is a fantasy-fueled tale about an emperor who marries the daughter of the mythic Keikobad. Their union remains barren, however, and as the opera opens, the empress learns that unless she conceives a child within three days, her father will reclaim her for the spirit world. She then forces her nurse to assist her in obtaining the shadow of a human woman, a metaphoric symbol for procreation.

Running parallel to this drama is the story of Barak, an impoverished dyer, and his discontented wife. When the empress and her nurse propose buying the dyer's wife's shadow, the unhappy woman agrees. The remainder of the opera involves reversing this unholy bargain, the happy reunion of the two couples and a rather crude embrace of childbearing.

The degree to which this convoluted action makes any sense at all is subject to debate, but if it lays any claims to cogency here, credit goes to stage director Patrick Young, who has managed to imbue Hofmannsthal's portentous narrative with something resembling drama.

And let's not forget about the singing, for if Strauss' operas are about anything, they are about the beauty of the female voice. As the empress, a sometimes thankless role dramatically, Danish soprano Inga Nielsen took her time warming up, sounding superannuated at the opera's outset but truly blooming by her cathartic scene in the temple, facing the emperor turned to stone. American soprano Linda Watson powerfully handled the more complex role of Barak's wife, revealing a range of compelling moods and vocal colors. It's the nurse who takes the fall for all this opera's scheming, and German mezzo-soprano Doris Soffel - in her American debut - ably managed the part's nuances, summoning just the right amount of darkness for this ambiguous character.

German baritone Wolfgang Brendel winningly sang Barak in the Metropolitan Opera's vaunted new production of ``Frau'' two seasons ago. In Los Angeles, he repeats the feat, with perhaps even greater humanity and no loss of the resonance that makes him so right. Kansas-born tenor Robert Dean Smith, as the emperor, may not convey royal remove as well as some, but his warm sound works well in the most underdeveloped role in this opera.

DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN - Three and one half stars

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

When: 7 tonight, March 3, 6 and 10; 2 p.m. Saturday and March 13.

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

In a nutshell: Richard Strauss' challenging musical fable gets whimsical sets from David Hockney and a most sympathetic performance from conductor Kent Nagano and a stable of able singers.