EDMONTON - There are some strange things going on in that shadowy nexus between opera and pop - and Sarah Brightman did quite a few of them at Rexall Place last night.

A crowd of 6,000 witnessed an octet of geisha girls herald an African tribal thumping groove that turned out to be a radical "reinterpretation" of Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World.

Bugs appeared to flutter around Brightman as she sang a rather more recognizable rendition of Dust in the Wind. She's faithful to Kansas but mangles Louis Armstrong?

Never mind. There was a quaint number set in a forest that demanded, but unfortunately did not get, elves dancing around Stonehenge.

With the aid of giant mirrors, Brightman appeared to float in midair surrounded by a water ballet in a lilting number I believe was called Hijo de la Luna, though I may be confused. Various other celestial objects played a large part in the general "luna" theme, and to further confuse the issue, she seemed to sing in several languages last night.

Soon, Andrew Lloyd Webber's ex-wife climbed a ladder to croon another exotic aria while lying on a tower of mattresses, yes, like the Princess and the Pea.

At one point, a male opera singer suddenly barged onto the stage to form a duet. And later on, Brightman rose high into the air on a swing as she sang, wearing an impossibly elaborate dress, as rose petals fluttered down around her.

And that was just the first set. Impressive, no?

Sadly, due to deadline, I missed the second act with its promise of even more bizarre stunts, plus material from Phantom of the Opera the Webber work for which Brightman is famous. But I think I got the idea: Sarah Brightman is an opera singer who - for some mysterious reason - wants pop credibility, too.

Exactly zero serious opera singers have done such a thing before, and why would they want to? What but a desire for fame could spur these musical lions to sing Dust in the Wind? Even Pavarotti drew the line somewhere.

This is a strange career: Brightman has the chops, the range and the tone to hold her own against the classical opera masters, and in fact the best moments of the show were the most "operatic" - including her own song Anytime Anywhere, which is based on an actual classical piece.

But instead of sticking with her strength, her "opera" voice, Brightman larded the first set with droopy, mid-tempo duds - most coming from her latest album, Symphony.

Coming second in the set, Let It Rain was particularly depressing, followed by the woeful title track - sample: "I don't know what I'm supposed to say, when now suddenly you seem so far away" - awash with soaring psuedo-strings that sometimes threatened to overpower the lead vocal itself.

This is not what Sarah Brightman fans paid good money to hear.

Well, they came for the opera, didn't they? The biggest cheers came from the most impressive singing, and Brightman was most impressive when not using her so-called "pop" voice. For me, it was very frustrating.

Like any diva event, the Sarah Brightman experience is very much a celebration of herself, but there's more to it than ego.

This singer has long been lauded for her "theatrical" performances, and last night did not disappoint for fans of such fare. Each song came off like a set piece showcasing Brightman as a different character - a ghoulish witch to begin, a devil with a red dress, a fairy princess, a Spanish harlot, a goddess of all she surveys, you name it. It all looked fabulous, of course, so kudos to the set designers, choreographers, costumers and so on.

If only she'd spend as much effort picking her set list as she does making herself look good.