Famed tenor doesn’t know what to expect when he plays return engagement

Robert Macy

Thursday, April 1, 1999 | 2:07 a.m.

Famed tenor Luciano Pavarotti says he doesn't know quite what to expect when he performs for a third time in Las Vegas next week. But he knows there will be some roulette tables waiting to take his money again.

Pavarotti is scheduled to make a rare appearance in this gambling capital April 10, christening the 12,000-seat Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Events Center. The concert will be his first here since March 1985, when he performed at the city's Thomas & Mack Center. A year earlier, he performed at the Riviera Hotel.

He recalls being "very comfortable" with his Las Vegas audiences, and in the casino - at least for a while.

"I won a couple thousand dollars at roulette," he remembered. "Then I lost it, like everybody does."

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Pavarotti hedged on whether an audience on the Las Vegas Strip would be as receptive as those who turned out to hear him last month in "Tosca" at New York City's Metropolitan Opera.

Critics praised his "Tosca" performance.

As for his Mandalay Bay audience, Pavarotti predicted "If we love each other, it will be good."

There's apparently a market in Las Vegas for the legendary singer. Only about 500 tickets remained as of Thursday, according to Mandalay Bay spokesman Bill Doak.

Pavarotti, 63, is having a good 1999 after undergoing hip and knee replacement surgery last year. In addition to solo engagements, he performed in Tokyo Jan. 9 with opera superstars Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. The three - known for their joint performances as the Three Tenors - are scheduled to perform again in Pretoria, South Africa April 18 and in Detroit at Tiger Stadium on July 17.

Pavarotti said one of his passions is working to help children, particularly victims of war, with money from some concerts and recordings going to special charities.

Last year his efforts built a music center in Bosnia, this year the focus is on Guatemala. Next year, he said, he would be doing something for the victims of Kosovo.

"A person like me has been very lucky in life," Pavarotti said. "I got something very special from God. Helping kids is the best way possible of repaying him."