"ARIADNE AUF NAXOS," UTAH OPERA, Capitol Theatre, continues Wednesday and Friday, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, 2 p.m. (355-2787)

With Richard Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos," Utah Opera has a sure-fire hit.

First-rate casting, excellent direction, intelligent conducting and wonderful playing by the orchestra mark this staging, making it one of the best productions by this company in years.

"Ariadne" isn't frequently performed, yet it sparkles with some of Strauss' wittiest music, and also some of his most profound and expressive writing for the stage.

This is also Utah Opera's premiere of this captivating comedy-cum-tragedy, and one can only hope it has found a permanent place in the company's repertoire.

The story is a wickedly delightful satire on opera, with an everyman composer struggling to have his music heard and fighting for the loftiness of his noble art against bourgeois entertainment.

Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal concocted an engaging yet complex tale in which the young composer's first opera is to be presented at the home of the wealthiest man in Vienna, to be followed by a harlequinade. But due to time constraints (and a fireworks display to begin promptly at 9 p.m.), the nobleman has decreed that the opera and the harlequinade are to be presented simultaneously.

This is unthinkable for the composer, who contemplates suicide, but for the members of the harlequinade, this poses no problem, since Zerbinetta, the star of the comedy, just plays herself every time, and she and her four companions are masters of improvisation.

Jane Giering-De Haan gives a superlative performance as Zerbinetta. Her vocal prowess is matched equally by her consummate acting. Her coloratura aria "Grossmachtige Prinzessin" is a showstopper. But vocal pyrotechnics aside, Giering-De Haan's voice is also wonderfully lyrical and fluid.

Her counterpart, Brenda Harris, emotes pathos as the tragic figure of Ariadne, abandoned by her lover Theseus on the island of Naxos. Hers is a richly colored soprano, and her voice lends itself naturally to the drama of her role.

Patricia Risley is superb in the trouser role of the Composer, singing with conviction. She brings credence to the plight of the young man, who sees his work destroyed.

Keith Phares (Harlekin), Aaron Pegram (Brighella), Gustav Andreassen (Truffaldin) and Todd Miller (Scaramuccio) were wonderful and display fine comic acting.

Kathryn Skemp (Najade), Jessica Bowers (Dryade) and Camille Zamora (Echo) are touching as the nymphs as they commented in Ariadne's pain and suffering.