The Heartland Tour, NZSO at Bruce Mason Centre

By TARA WERNER

Judy Glen must have set some sort of world record in A Comedy of Arias, her humorous overview of the vicissitudes of the opera world on Thursday.

The comedienne managed to sing the entire plot of Madama Butterfly in under one minute, complete with stage actions.

If comedy is all about timing, then this soprano has her witty routine off pat. For example, just as the show began, two members of the audience shifted from their seats. "It only gets better," she quipped to them, quick as a flash.

It was just one amusing episode in her highly interactive operatic master-class, the first concert in the NZSO's Heartland Tour.

She conned everyone that we were all stars-in-waiting, longing to replace her as the diva in the limelight. Moving effortlessly from one aria to another, she revealed how to achieve the necessary glamour - evidently it's in the wig, not the voice - and the method used to deceive even hardened operatic superstars when singing in a foreign language. If you lose your way, just sing a shopping list - nobody will know the difference.

At one point she traversed the dramatic emotions that saturate every opera plot - love, hate, happiness and sadness - and the set movements to go with each. Then she put all us operatic wannabes to the test by accompanying her in a hilarious version of O mio babbino caro.

Getting total strangers to enter into the spirit of the occasion - or more to the point, the art of making a great deal of noise - is a gift, and Glen has it in abundance.

Even the musicians under conductor Marc Taddei were not immune to her charms. They laughed as much as the rest of us. A Comedy of Arias turned out to be an affectionate dig at the pomposity of opera, and one received with the warmth it deserved.