STAPLES QUAKES FOR MADONNA.

She doesn't have pop's greatest vocal talent, nor is she blessed with songwriting genius, yet almost two decades after rising to worldwide fame, Madonna still delivers on stage as the focal point of the summer's hottest concert tour.

Equally famous for her life off stage, Madonna has made it almost impossible to divorce the image and antics from the artist. But on Sunday, in the post-earthquake start of a four-date run at downtown's Staples Center, Madonna made clear that everything you've read or heard is simply part of the package.

And what a package. Madonna's 12-city ``Drowned World Tour,'' her first major trek in eight years, is a dazzling high-tech production designed almost like a Broadway show in four thematic acts. Each segment - punk, geisha/martial arts, cowboy and flamenco - had its own memorable visual concept.

Inspired by popular film as well as fashion, underground dance music and foreign cultures, Madonna's tightly scripted musical - which continues tonight, Thursday and Friday - included a section straight out of ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' in which the 43-year-old singer and a couple of her dancers tumbled through the air on cables.

The music, too, was rarely earthbound. Aiming to prove she's a viable artist making edgy music of the moment, Maddy (as the Brits call her) snubbed the frothy pop that fueled her path to stardom in the early '80s in favor of the sometimes abrasive electronica-inspired dance sounds of her last two albums, ``Music'' and ``Ray of Light.''

Opening with ``Drowned World/Substitute for Love'' and wrapping up nearly two hours later with the title track of her current ``Music'' disc, the tireless Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone revealed a deep, full singing voice that put across even the most banal lyrics with seemingly heartfelt emotion and clarity.

Along the way, she offered top-notch readings of ``Frozen,'' ``Sky Fits Heaven'' and ``Paradise (Not for Me)'' before the knockout punch of the evening's two oldies, ``La Isla Bonita'' and the irresistible disco anthem ``Holiday,'' which had the 14,500-strong crowd roaring with delight.

The night had the ambience of an event. Before the lights went down, audience members screamed as Hollywood royalty - including Kevin Costner and Tom Cruise with date Penelope Cruz - strolled through the throng to take their place in the front rows.

Later, Madonna dedicated the terrific ``Secret'' to Costner, who she famously and ruthlessly insulted in her 1991 backstage documentary ``Truth or Dare.''

Lesser lights and Madonna-bes like Britney Spears probably wouldn't have been able to rebound from such an indiscretion. For the most successful female pop artist on the planet, it's just part of the show.

MADONNA

Where: Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles.

When: 8 tonight, Thursday and Friday.

Tickets: Sold out, try brokers.

Information: [phone].

Our rating: Four stars

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Madonna, romping with masked dancers, later snagged a flying rig to pay homage to ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' during her Sunday concert in Staples Center.