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By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Directed by Christopher Alden. Conducted by Daniel Cohen. Until Feb. 22 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. 416-363-8231.

I was reminded at Sunday afternoon鈥檚 Canadian Opera Company opening of La clemenza di Tito how sad it was that the CBC wasn鈥檛 broadcasting any of our local operas this season.

Because this would have been a perfect piece to have heard on the radio: a galaxy of stellar vocal performances and a superb orchestral performance (Daniel Cohen conducting) to support it.

Best of all, you wouldn鈥檛 have had to see Christopher Alden鈥檚 wildly inappropriate production, so badly conceived and designed that the boos greeting the creative team constituted the strongest response at the opening-day curtain call.

I was one of the strongest defenders of Alden鈥檚 out-there production of Die Fledermaus earlier this season, which I still maintain was both fresh and fitting.

But this time around, like Lucy Ricardo, Mr. Alden has some 鈥檚plainin鈥� to do.

La clemenza di Tito is one of Mozart鈥檚 final works, an elegiac reflection on power, friendship, betrayal and retribution. Two of the leading male roles are traditionally performed by women, which adds an intense fragility and beauty to an already yearningly emotional score.

It鈥檚 set in ancient Rome and Terese Wadden鈥檚 costumes for the leading characters in this production are Roman, more or less, but Andrew Cavanaugh Holland鈥檚 set, despite some initial nudges toward a classical production, winds up looking, literally, like the entryway outside of the Balkan version of the Golden Globes, complete with velvet rope, stanchions and, yes indeed, a red carpet.

There鈥檚 also a giant metallic garbage can, where the production鈥檚 designs should have been deposited, but instead people use it to hide compromising documents, ditch swords or 鈥� on one occasion 鈥� vomit into (well, at least that what鈥檚 it looked like under Gary Marder鈥檚 impenetrably murky lighting).

Members of the chorus wear commedia dell鈥檃rte masks, sort of, but their costuming is more reminiscent of Dubrovnik than Rome. And by the time a giant red telephone 鈥� like U.S. politicians used to stop atomic disaster in 1960s movies 鈥� is being passed around awkwardly, you may wonder what the hell it鈥檚 all supposed to mean.

Alden鈥檚 directorial style on this production seems to be in direct opposition to the material, calling for broad slapstick, smirky sexual innuendos and campy anachronisms instead of the simple nobility ingrained in the text and score.

Maybe it鈥檚 because I鈥檇 just seen the 30 Rock finale, but I kept thinking Alden had that sitcom on his mind when staging the show.

Michael Schade is the titular Tito, a flawed yet noble individual and he delivers Mozart鈥檚 score with a rare combination of delicacy and power that makes one bow down in gratitude.

Unfortunately, he has been directed to play the role as Jack Donaghy, an impression that his purple silk pyjamas and swaggering walk only intensifies.

Then there鈥檚 Isabel Leonard, as the male character, Sesto. Her voice has the rich, fragrant depth of sandalwood and she looks so sublimely boyish yet fulsomely feminine that she combines the best of both genders. I adored her.

Yet in this scenario, she鈥檚 reduced to a kind of Liz Lemon, suffering conflicted opinions about Tito and bouncing whichever way the forces tug her.

Wallis Giunta鈥檚 Annio (another 鈥渢rouser鈥� role) gives us a wonderful floating tone that entrances the ear, but she has been directed in a coarse modern style that makes her seem like the halfwit sister of Kenneth the page.

And in the great diva role of the piece, Vitellia, Keri Alkema has a rich, full vocal presence that caresses the score to perfection, but she has been directed to ham it up with a verve that calls to mind a brunette Jenna Maroney.

You might find it unfair to compare this gifted cast with the personnel of a recently departed sitcom, but, in truth, that鈥檚 what director Alden has done to them himself with his egregiously wrong-minded production.

Close your eyes and this is a truly great production of La clemenza diTito. Open them, alas, and you鈥檒l have to cope with your fight-or-flight reflex very early on.

It鈥檚 not fair to treat these artists and Mozart with this kind of creative perversity.