MUSIC REVIEW : Zarzuela Ensemble at Pasadena Civic

Perhaps the greatest disappointment for 19th-Century Spanish musicians was their inability to export zarzuela beyond the Hispanic world. Many grand plans were made for productions in the great European capitals, but few came to fruition and none achieved lasting success.

Thanks in no small measure to the revitalizing, missionary efforts--within Spain as much as abroad--of director Jose Tamayo, zarzuela now is beginning to command the attention and sympathy it deserves.

Saturday evening, the latest incarnation of Tamayo’s Antologia de la Zarzuela ensemble gave the first of three weekend performances at Pasadena Civic Auditorium, before a sellout crowd, after working the night before at Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa.

Tamayo’s peripatetic concept/company first took the stage 22 years ago in Barcelona. Since then, it has become a major touring attraction, appearing in bullrings, castle courtyards, arenas and theaters from Moscow to Madison Square Garden.

The anthology this year is almost an entirely new collection. Only the Prologue--a brief nod to Calderon and history--and the bravura ballet “La Boda de Luis Alonso” remain from the most recent version.

The new material represents 12 composers of the genre, some with lesser works. There seems to be an increased emphasis on little suites drawn from individual zarzuelas, although much is still truncated and rearranged.

The selections will do little to dispel the stereotype of the zarzuela as simply popular folkloric entertainment, and dramatic context is a necessary victim of the format itself.

Like its predecessors, however, the new Antologia de la Zarzuela is quite a spectacle. Sets are almost nonexistent, but the lighting and costumes are vivid, varied and effective and displayed in vigorous stagings by the large company.

Alas, the sound of the production is not half as impressive as the sight of it. Though ads and publicity for the show tout the number of performers, only one of them--a largely superfluous conductor--is in the pit. The orchestra that should be playing these colorful, insinuating scores was canned.

Then, of course, the singers were amplified, locating all the dry, loud sound clearly and disconcertingly in speakers offstage. The results were abrasive, aurally and aesthetically, as the chorus--often deep behind a scrim--and on-stage rondalla of guitars and bandurrias tried to keep pace with the unforgiving tape.

Under the circumstances, the vocal display pieces became talent-show approximations. The sopranos--veteran Josefina Arregui, Teresa Castal and Carmen Plaza--were in particular adversely affected by electronic stridence in any ascent into the high register.

Of the men, tenor Antonio Perez survived the amplification best, revealing a naturally ringing voice in the “Dona Francisquita” finale and partnering Arregui in Fernandez Caballero’s “El Duo de la ‘Africana.’ ” Baritone Antonio Ramallo also produced nice sounds, but was hopelessly rushed in “Ay mi morena,” from “Luisa Fernanda.”

All of this left the dancers carrying, very capably, the expressive burden. Ballet Espanol “Antologia,” 12 dancers plus directors/soloists Maria del Sol and Mario Lavega, provided the punch in the full company numbers and had several selections to itself.

In the “Dona Francisquita” Fandango, Alberto Lorca’s choreography works the sharply accented, flamboyant flamenco style of “La Boda de Luis Alonso.” The dances in “La Vida Breve” proved equally pointed and passionate, excepting the incongruous ballroom kitsch of Del Sol’s and Lavega’s pas de deux.

In a very different style was Lorca’s sinuous, elegant fan dance for the women in the Intermedio of “Goyescas” and the lightly leaping Basque sock hop--which drew a nationalistic outcry from the back of the auditorium--to Jesus Guridi’s prelude to Act II of “El Caserio.” The choreography must be adaptable to cramped stages, and, whether in extended fans and castanets or twisting jumps, Lorca and his dancers fluently stressed the vertical dimension.

Now, when does a full and unamplified production from the Teatro Lirico Nacional arrive?