THE LOWELL HOUSE OPERA is serious stuff.

The audience is particularly aware of this. The men, for instance, wear jackets and ties. Everybody applauds the conductor when he first appears. At intermission, they buy soda at fifty cents a cup.

We're talking the real thing

The formality is present even though this year's production, Offenbach's La Perrichole, is a comic opera. The seriousness is probably there because so many of the directors and singers hope to turn professional. A large percentage of the cast, including three of the five leads, come from area music schools like the New England Conservatory and have been performing in Boston operas and other musical productions for years.

Not to be outdone, however, are the two leads played by Harvard students. Margery Hellmold '83, who will star in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Gondoliers next month, brings her beautiful, seemingly effortless soprano to the title role. She plays one half of a pair of street singers in Peru and is lured away from her partner Piquillo, by the Viceroy, played by Dominic A.A. Randolph '84. Through a series of Contrivances, she is married to Piquillo without Piquillo's knowledge. Piquillo later discovers the secret but then comes to believe that La Perichole is the Viceroy's mistress; her task is to convince her partner that she has loved him all along.

Richard Slade's Piquillo combines with La Perichole to make a purposely awkward but rather endearing pair. They are quite comical as they fail to impress the local townfolk with their singing and dancing. Slade's soft tenor blends nicely with Hellmold's soprano, although the occasionally overpowers him. Hellmold's more natural stage presence also steels situation from Slade; she moves slowly but gracefully, suiting her steps and value to each song. After becoming "tipsy," for instance, she hiccups and belches her way through a number, teetering back and forth on the stage. And Hellmold's voice, even in the uppermost reaches, is more than equal to such affects; the cadenzas of some of her arias, though they climb to high C's and D's, remain brilliantly clear.

Randolph's Viceroy is more of a match for La Perichole than Piquillo is. His resonant baritone has an edge to it that makes it stand out even in the large chorus members. Randolph's speaking voice, a natural British accent dulled somewhat by his moving to New Jersey, seems a bit odd in a story that takes place in Peru. Likewise, the sets, colorful but subtle hues that provide a good background for the sometimes intentionally garish costumes, look very little like anything in any Latin American country that I've ever seen. But this is opera; we shouldn't ask any questions.

SOMETHING AS GRAND and complicated as an opera could not be brought off without cool, efficient musical direction. Nicholas V. Palmer '79, the Lowell House music tutor, keeps the orchestra and singers together, with directorial assistance from Stuart Malina '84 and Anne Watson. Malina was on hand Friday night to keep Palmer cool under the pressure before performance. I overheard this pre-show exchange:

Malina: I have some bad news. The string section isn't coming.

Palmer: Can you hum the cello part?

Luckily, the strings did arrive. Ah, a night at the opera.