WHEN OPERA MET OSCAR TREND OF HIRING ACCLAIMED FILM DIRECTORS TO STAGE WORKS CONTINUES.

Byline: Rick Mortensen Staff Writer

EVERYONE in Hollywood covets a little gold statuette known as Oscar, and now the Los Angeles Opera is coveting the winners.

Maximilian Schell, whose 40-year acting and directing career includes a best-actor award for the 1961 film ``Judgment at Nuremberg,'' directed ``Lohengrin'' in September.

And now William Friedkin, the Academy Award-winning director of ``The French Connection,'' makes his L.A. Opera debut with a double bill featuring Bela Bartok's dark psychodrama ``Duke Bluebeard's Castle'' and Giocomo Puccini's comedy ``Gianni Schichi.''

Edgar Baitzel, L.A. Opera's director of artistic operations, who has directed several operas in Europe, said film directors offer a fresh perspective.

``Most educated opera directors begin as assistant directors or dramaturges or singers,'' he said. ``With film directors, the experience is totally different. ... In all the arts, we appreciate the fresh blood coming into the mix. I think the qualified film directors like Bill Friedkin are very important to the opera.''

Bass-baritone Samuel Ramey, who plays both title characters on the double bill, agreed. He said film directors help opera meet the public's demand for better acting in opera.

``Because of the influence of film and television, acting has become more important to opera,'' he said. ``Gone are the days of going to the opera and just watching people stand and deliver their lines and walk off. The public wants to see something more interesting than that on stage.''

Ramey's ``Bluebeard'' co-star, Denyce Graves, hopes to cross over into film and TV. Since she sang ``America the Beautiful'' on the nationally televised Day of Prayer and Remembrance event at the National Cathedral, Graves' visibility has increased beyond the realm of opera.

She has sung at a NASCAR race telecast, on Oprah Winfrey's show and at a space shuttle lunch. Her fame brought her a guest appearance on ``Politically Incorrect'' and a role in ``The Vagina Monologues'' in New York. As something of a crossover artist herself, Graves is pleased to see film directors make forays into opera - as long as they put music first.

``I think it's important, first of all, that they love the art form and respect it and that they understand that there's another element and that the music has to come first,'' she said. ``I think they can bring a very interesting perspective to it and a broader vision in some ways.''

Friedkin made his opera debut in 1998 with a production of Alban Berg's ``Wozzeck'' in Florence, Italy. Pablo Hunka, who sang the title role, also sang in a production of ``Lohengrin'' that Baitzel directed, and he spoke highly of Friedkin.

Baitzel and L.A. Opera Artistic Director Placido Domingo heard that Friedkin's favorite opera is ``Duke Bluebeard's Castle'' and invited him to direct it in Los Angeles.

Because of its abbreviated length, ``Bluebeard'' requires a second piece to make a full evening of music. To keep the dark mood, ``Bluebeard'' is frequently done side-by-side with Arnold Schoenberg's ``Erwartung,'' but Friedkin thought that would dilute the power of ``Bluebeard.''

Because Friedkin felt so strongly about it, the company decided to go in the opposite direction and do the comedy ``Gianni Schichi'' after intermission.

``It is really a perfect match,'' Baitzel said. ``It is wonderful for the director to rehearse in the afternoon 'Bluebeard,' with all this heavy emotional stuff, and in the evening, you have the fun of 'Gianni Schichi,' and Billy did it on purpose. He said, 'If we consider the first piece being similar to my ``Exorcist,'' then the second half will be a Marx Brothers farce.' ''

Ramey's experience in the role of Bluebeard includes a 1987 recording and a turn at the Met opposite Jesse Norman, but this is his first time playing Schichi. Like most bass/baritones, Ramey has played primarily villains, priests or sometimes both, so he's excited to play a comic role.

``Thus far in my career, I haven't had too many chances to be outrageously funny,'' he said. ``There are a few comic roles in my repertoire - Basilio in 'The Barber (of Seville),' Leporello in 'Don Giovanni'- but nothing quite so outrageous as 'Schichi.' At this part of my career, I'm too old to sing 'Don Giovanni' and 'Figaro' and other things I've been identified with, so I'm looking for other repertoire ideas.''

Gianni Schichi is a rascally social climber who, to help his daughter, impersonates a dead man and alters his last will and testament. Duke Bluebeard is a mysterious widower who keeps a grisly secret behind seven locked doors until his curious new wife persuades him to open them.

As the director of ``The Exorcist,'' Friedkin seems uniquely suited to the frightening subject matter of ``Bluebeard.'' Graves called Friedkin ``the master of terror,'' and Ramey said Friedkin's production is much darker than the one he did at the Met.

Of course the real action in ``Bluebeard'' is inside the character's minds. The spoken prologue to ``Bluebeard,'' which the L.A. Opera production decided to do in English while leaving the rest of the piece in Hungarian, framed the opera as an exploration of the inner self.

``It's all about Bluebeard's soul, really,'' Ramey said. ``I think the castle represents his internal being, and that's why he doesn't want any of the doors open. He doesn't want anybody seeing inside his persona, shall we say. When each door is opened, his inner being is exposed or revealed.''

DUKE BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE and GIANNI SCHICHI

What: Works by Bartok and Puccini.

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

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sunday, Wednesday, June 8 and June 12; 2 p.m. June 16.

Tickets: $34 to $165. Call [phone].

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Photo:

Samuel Ramey and Denyce Graves rehearse ``Duke Bluebeard's Castle'' at the L.A. Opera, which has handed the show's reins to movie director William Friedkin.