The One Tenor

Melissa Schorr

Friday, April 9, 1999 | 10:14 a.m.

In July, nearly two billion people tuned in to see Luciano Pavarotti, alongside Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, perform at a "Three Tenors" concert held in Paris on the eve of the World Cup.

In 1994, more than one billion people tuned in to their Los Angeles appearance at Dodgers Stadium.

In 1993, half a million attended Pavarotti's concert in New York's Central Park.

And in 1991, 200,000 fans -- including the late Princess Diana -- sat in the rain for his performance in London's Hyde Park.

But in Las Vegas, a few tickets are still available for his performance that will open Mandalay Bay's brand new, 12,000-seat Events Center. (A plaque honoring Pavarotti was scheduled to be unveiled today in the lobby of the Events Center.)

Pavarotti, 63, the Italian opera singer who has brought arias to the arenas and opera to the masses, will make his third appearance in Las Vegas Saturday night, his first in more than a decade. His last Las Vegas concert was held in 1985 at the Thomas & Mack where, annoyed by the roar of overhead planes, he swore never to return to the venue.

Now, with several Las Vegas arenas to choose from, Tibor Rudas, his longtime impresario and a former Las Vegan, was finally able to arrange for Pavarotti to return.

"I was dying to get him back to Las Vegas, but we couldn't get any dates, with him enslaved to the (New York) Metropolitan Opera," Rudas explains from his California office.

His unwillingness to play casino showrooms is not because the singer objects to casinos -- he told the Associated Press that he enjoys playing roulette when he visits, even though he inevitably loses thousands of dollars -- it's the size of the rooms that has bothered him.

"He has refused to work in a 1,200-seat showroom because it's too small for his voice," Rudas says. "It is ridiculous to have a hundred-piece orchestra for 800 people." (Pavarotti will be backed on Saturday by the resurrected Nevada Symphony Orchestra.)

Rudas, who has been producing Pavarotti's concerts for the past two decades, was the first to package the "Three Tenors" in concert in Rome in 1991, a phenomenon which has been repeated worldwide countless times since.

Rudas has long ties to the Las Vegas community, creating 1960s and '70s revue shows such as the "Fabulous Rudas Acrobatic Dancers" and "The Living Screen" at casinos such as the Dunes and the Tropicana.

Rudas began his career singing himself, first as a choir boy in Budapest, then toured Europe as a dancer. He moved to Australia to produce French-style revues, then moved to Las Vegas in 1963. In 1976, he was hired by New Jersey's Resort International as vice president of entertainment, booking Atlantic City's first casino showroom.

Rudas may have achieved a footnote in casino history when he decided to book the New York Philharmonic, the first classical musical performance ever to appear in a casino showroom. "I eventually ran out of names," he recalls. "How many times could I bring Sinatra back? I thought, 'I have to do something new.' "

In 1982, after a string of successful classical bookings, he began wooing Pavarotti. As Rudas tells it, the hotel's owners called him with last-minute doubts about the tenor's ability to draw crowds, and tried to pull out of the agreement.

"Pavarotti is no Sinatra," he remembers them telling him. Rudas proposed running the concert at his own expense, putting up his stock holdings as collateral for the quarter-of-a-million dollars it would cost, including $50,000 for the singer's fee. The owners agreed.

"It became an incredible success -- within a 50-mile radius, you couldn't get a room," he proudly recalls.

"If those people hadn't called me (to back out), I would probably still be working for Resort," Rudas says, laughing. "I want to emphasize that not everything works on cleverness -- sheer luck plays a (part)."

That "luck" launched him into a 17-year partnership with Pavarotti that will be feted with a July concert in London that marks their 200th arena show together. "Now, I am not only his promoter, but his greatest friend," Rudas boasts.

"He is the greatest voice, probably ever, as a tenor," Rudas adds, "and he is a personality. He comes out on stage and opens his arm, and everybody falls in love with him, without him even opening his mouth."

Pavarotti, who made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1968, celebrated his 30th anniversary with the Met last November with a gala performance that was taped and aired on PBS last month. In the gala, he performed his three most famous roles: Rodolfo in "La Boheme," Radames in "Aida" and Nemorino in "L'Elisir d'Amore (The Elixir of Love)."

Rudas is widely credited -- or blamed, depending on your perspective -- with bringing Pavarotti to a mass market. "My plan is to bring classical music to the general crowd," he says, pointing to his latest venture -- the Three Sopranos, featuring Kathleen Cassello, Kallen Esperian and Cynthia Lawrence.

But a few critics deride this notion. Rudas has heard it all before. "There is always criticism when someone tries to open one media to the general public," he says with a sigh. "The elite don't like it."

Wayne Lee Gay, the classical music critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, cites Norman Lebrecht, the British author of "Who Killed Classical Music?" as calling Pavarotti's arena shows "a travesty of the art that he was trained to produce."

"It's devastating to opera," Lebrecht is quoted as saying. "It's the cornerstone of a culture of greed that's ruining opera."

Gay seems to agree, writing that a Pavarotti arena show is to a standard opera as "Roller Derby is to hockey, and Pac-man is to chess, and professional wrestling is to baseball."

But Mark Swed, classical music critic for the Los Angeles Times, notes that the two are simply different products.

Swed suspects that a fan who attends a "Three Tenors" concert, with its amplified sound, familiar arias and video screens, would probably be disappointed by a traditional opera. "It seems a completely different world and a different audience," says Swed, who attended a "Three Tenors" concert in New Jersey. "It's big business and entertainment," he notes. "But I don't think it is for opera fans."

Indeed, the "Three Tenors" have what is called "brand equity": a name so recognizable it has tangible value. Their album has gone platinum, and an upcoming book "co-written" by the "Three Tenors" is listed on Amazon.com's website as scheduled for publication in 2000. (Pavarotti is already the author of two autobiographies, the 1985 New York Times bestseller "Pavarotti: My Story," which told of his rise to success, and 1995's "My World," a sequel that brings readers up to date on the ensuing 15 years.)

These lucrative ventures landed Pavarotti on the Forbes 40 Highest Paid Entertainers list in 1995-1996, when he reportedly earned $36 million.

German author Jurgen Kesting decries the commercialism that he feels detracts from pure operatic pursuit. Pavarotti has "metamorphosed into an internationally recognized trademark," he writes in his book, "Luciano Pavarotti: The Myth of the Tenor."

But loyalists point out that not all this commericalism is bad: Last June, Pavarotti organized a concert called "Pavarotti & Friends" (now out on CD) featuring Trisha Yearwood, Celine Dion and the Spice Girls, which raised about $10 million for child war victims -- and made Pavarotti a known quantity among American children. "He brings the youth into learning about classic music," Rudas says, "which I think is the greatest thing."

One thing his critics take comfort in is also what Pavarotti fans fear most -- the suspicion that the tenor may be nearing the end of his career.

Certainly, his schedule shows no signs of abating: Pavarotti is still touring at a frantic pace. After Las Vegas, he is scheduled to play in Buenos Aires and Beruit, then on to Oslo and Ontario, and Australia in the fall.

The question pestering him and his associates lately is how much longer he can sustain his voice, which has already been criticized as losing its once distinctive quality and renowned "high C's."

He also may want to spend more time with his new girlfriend, whom he is expected to marry as soon as he waits the prerequisite time under Italian law for a divorce from Adua, his wife of 35 years.

In addition, his health has been troublesome: Last season, he swooned on stage after a dizzy spell during an aria; earlier this year, he underwent knee and hip replacement surgery.

But the procedure went well, and in the process, Pavarotti shed about 50 pounds, causing a New York Times music critic to marvel at his newfound agility in last month's performance of "Tosca" at the Met.

"Instead of slowly lowering himself to the ground, he did a somewhat more realistic fall and roll," Allan Kozinn noted. The Times critic was equally impressed by Pavarotti's vocal performance. "Vocally, he sounded fresh, powerful and engaged in the role," he wrote.

"He is a reborn man," Rudas confirms, predicting that the legendary tenor has at least another five years in him, if not more. "I called him (recently), and he was out running in Central Park."

It's a bit hard to fathom this image: Pavarotti, Marathon Man. Then again, if there's one thing the tenor is an expert on, it would be endurance.

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