SHOW BUSINESS: They're Baaack!

The 56,000 tickets, priced at up to $1,000, have almost sold out. The venue, Dodger Stadium, is being transformed from a ball field into a fancy theater with a neoclassical stage flanked by graceful columns -- which, like the promoter, come from Hungary. Behind that will be an instant park made from 30 truckloads of assorted greenery -- amid which two four-story-high waterfalls will come plashing down. Except during the performance. In deference to the three supertenors who will make up the dream program -- Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti -- the cascades will be stilled. This Saturday's concert (to be aired live on PBS and repeated the next night) may mark the final of the World Cup, but will anyone in Los Angeles be thinking about soccer?

The production is an attempt to top one of the biggest entertainment coups the music world has seen in decades. Four years ago, on the eve of the World Cup final in Rome, the same three tenors came together for the first time to give a songfest in the Baths of Caracalla. The concept was already grandiose, but its success outstripped the wildest expectations of those involved. About 800 million people worldwide saw the television broadcasts. The record turned into by far the best-selling classical album of all time (total sales: around 10 million, and still going strong); only a dozen or so albums of any description have sold more copies. The program's most popular aria, Puccini's Nessun dorma, became a fight song not only for the World Cup competition but also for record buyers everywhere, who used it as an anthem to get them onto the freeway in the morning or ready to confront the boss. All'alba vincero (At dawn I shall win).

The idea of featuring three of the world's leading tenors -- not just one, or one plus a soprano -- was extravagant and plain sexy. Ever since the initial recital there has been a constant demand for more. Says Domingo: "We could have been singing six or eight concerts a month all over the world." All three tenors have a sure sense of their image, however, and avoid overkill. They liked the original idea because they love soccer and played the game as boys. Domingo, in fact, did not accept engagements during the tournament until he knew the schedule of the Spanish team.

Like the legendary fifth Beatle, there is a fourth member of this trio: conductor Zubin Mehta. An internationally renowned maestro who will shuttle to Munich immediately after the concert to conduct Tannhauser the following night, Mehta is a big catch for what is basically a pops performance. "Somebody has to steer this boat," he says. On a promotional video, Mehta appears as happy as a child at play, mixing it up with his three hammy friends. This is a rare sight; he is famous for his podium scowl. The unwonted ebullience points to one of the charms of the Three Tenors format: everyone is loose, laughing and ready for a little horseplay.