Who knew opera could be so much fun?

BY HOWARD COHEN

"The Sopranos" was never quite like this:

Baroness Vladka (rhymes with vodka, for reasons that will soon be apparent) von Loudenstimme has had a long career on the opera stage but for how much longer is anyone's guess. She's still got the pipes but she likes to soak them in booze whenever she can as in during every performance. So she hires the younger Southern belle Gwendoline Josephine Bellevoix Bouvier, who fancies herself French and cultured but who grew up in Boar Tush, La., to sing for the audience so she can sprint off stage for a nip.

One pianist named Paige Turner (played by Florida Atlantic University's chairman of the music department Heather Coltman), 18 costumes, a horned helmet, spear, light saber and a lotta Puccini later, the diva duet becomes a duel. The aim is laughter.

That's the premise of Duelling Divas, a comedic entree into the world of grand opera. The show was created by two Florida sopranos, Wendy Reynolds of Wilton Manors, who plays the younger Bellevoix (read: ''beautiful voice'') and Birgit Fioravante of Ocala as the grande dame Loudenstimme who, in real life, also digs the metal music of Led Zeppelin, hence the handle. ''A screaming guitar solo is like a soprano singing,'' Fioravante says. "There's a power behind it that's in opera, too, that's always attracted me.''

Reynolds says the initial inspiration for Duelling Divas came about in true diva fashion: the need for more stage time. The pair had performed a concert with a third soprano and it got her thinking. "When there are three singers, you don't get to sing as much. Two singers can do more solos and duets and variety, but the idea of two sopranos seemed boring.''

That's where the idea came to add some comedy to the Puccini and other familiar operatic standards the pair sing. The two, while in character, also play up the stereotypes of divas. ''Let's take the humor to the level of the guffaw,'' Reynolds says punctuating with a raucous guffaw of her own on the telephone.

The pair first performed the show for Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale in 2003 and have been developing it since to reach both the opera buff and the newbie to the theater.

''It's a great entry point,'' Reynolds says. "It's amazing how many adults have never experienced opera or who have preconceived notions and kids don't even know if they like it or not. These characters came out a little bit [like] who we are.''

Reynolds, like her character, is younger than the more experienced Fioravante. The differences make for some amusing moments. ''There are silly layers of jokes in every detail. What will be fun is to capitalize on them,'' she says.

Finding the right tone proved a challenge. ''[Birgit] kept telling me I had to be meaner, to make fun of her age. I had a hard time. I'm her friend! I don't want the audience to think we are bitchy. We are actually very nice people,'' Reynolds says with a laugh. "We finally said in order to play these stereotypes we have to develop alter egos and develop them as people. We poke fun at all kinds of things.''

Adds Fioravante, who is mom to two daughters, ages 23 and 21, ''We have to go out there and make it accessible to that enormous audience that is out there,'' she says. "Even a small part of that enormous audience would bring more people into the opera. That's a little bit of our mission. Primarily, our main issue is to entertain, it's what we love to do. We really are stage animals.'' In Duelling Divas, stage animals who do a little wrestling, too.