Gottfried Helnwein's costumes and sets stand out in the new production of Der Rosenkavalier. Here, Kurt Rydl plays Baron Ochs.

Again the L.A. Opera has called on a Hollywood director and a hot contemporary designer to give us a new take on Richard Strauss. Their production of Der Rosenkavalier, now at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, proves a bit uneven, and certainly not as risqué as you might hope from the advance hype. But it also packs a sustained musical punch and features a not-to-be-missed ensemble in the lead roles.

Back in the early 20th century, Richard Strauss succeeded because he knew how to walk the line between the kitschy and the classic, the nostalgic and the decadent. His most popular opera is at once an 18th century farce of comic disguise and a queasy riff on the end of the Austrian empire. It's filled with ironic waltzes and signature eccentricity, but also happens to be one of the greatest works penned for multiple female voices.

The Marschallin (Adrianne Pieczonka), a worldly wise royal of a certain age, has been dallying with the 17-year-old Octavian (a trouser role played by mezzo-soprano Alice Coote), and jokingly suggests that her grotesque neighbor, Baron Ochs, use the boy as a messenger to bring a silver rose of engagement to Sophie (Elizabeth Futral), his young bride-to-be. Octavian and Sophie fall for each other, the Baron is foiled, and the Marschallin acquiesces.

Director Maximilian Schell brings out much of the comedy, but lets the action drag in the first act and runs out of steam in the long third. Still, he constructs a wonderful, clockwork second act, when Baron Ochs (Kurt Rydl) is given his full, hilarious rein.

Overall, Schell's staging in this four-hour-plus production is far more chaste than the average modern Rosenkavalier, in spite of those misleading advertisements featuring lesbian amour.

The 21st century artist Gottfried Helnwein has succeeded for many of the same reasons as Strauss, and you would think he'd be the perfect man to design new sets and costumes for Rosenkavalier. In his Downtown Los Angeles studio, Helnwein paints photorealistic portraits of beautiful women, innocent children and Irish landscapes, then undercuts it with grotesque images of the damaged and the misbegotten. His theater design follows the same lead. Like Strauss, Helnwein's art is strangely populist at the same time it revels in morbid undertones.
The marriage is a happy one: Helnwein plays with a monochromatic canvas (each act has its own color, including face paint); has fun with big, cartoonish Alice-in-Wonderland costumes; and does sometimes hint at the decadent underbelly of the work.

Visually, the result is an uncertain pastiche: Just when Helnwein seems to be taking you in one direction, he changes his mind and escorts you somewhere else. If you have seen a half-dozen Rosenkavaliers in gaudy rococo, you'll probably get the jokes. If not, you may get confused.

Musically, the production always offers joy. The three sopranos work together to bring out the full richness of the score, and you can feel the chemistry in the interplay of their voices. Futral creates a new and playful kind of Sophie - not just naïve, but fun-loving. Coote switches perfectly between the serious masculinity and comic trickery of Octavian. Pieczonka isn't quite the tough, wise Marschallin one craves, but she holds up her end in the acting department.

The greatest fun of the evening comes from watching Rydl as the absurd Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau. A good Ochs can steal the whole opera, and Rydl almost succeeds. His basso profundo and smug waltz at the end of Act Two are almost worth the price of admission.

On opening night, conductor Kent Nagano took the tempos a bit slow - especially in Act One when the set was also quite plain. But the orchestra warmed as the evening progressed. Supporting players were all terrific, with special mention to Anthony Laciura as Valzacchi and Robert Bork as the nouveau-riche Herr von Faninal.

Der Rosenkavalier plays through June 19 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, losangelesopera.com or (213) 972-8001.