"Turandot," a "legend" invented by Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi in the 18th century, is the story of a Chinese princess who disdains all men. Required by law to marry, Turandot persuades her father, the Emperor Altoum, to amend the law so she must marry only if a prince can answer her three riddles. If a suitor fails to answer correctly, he is beheaded. Because of her beauty, princes from around the world attempt the riddles and are beheaded, earning her the epithet of the Ice Princess. But there is a prince to rival Turandot's cunning intellect: Calaf, son of the deposed king Timur, both of whom have been wandering in anonymous exile for years, aided only by a faithful slave girl, Liu.

For HOT's production, designer Peter Dean Beck struck a perfect balance of effective spectacle. Sets and lighting conveyed the story dramatically but seamlessly, somehow managing to be stunning without ever distracting.

Director Henry Akina staged the production masterfully, sculpting the many large crowd scenes and choreographing singers so that what happened on stage echoed the complex integration of Puccini's score.

In musical theater — especially in opera — plot and text are merely scaffolding. It is the voices that create the characters; the music that carries the drama. The audience is swayed by sets, costumes and makeup — but what it experiences, what they believe in their hearts, is what happens in the music.

Friday night's music, sensitively conducted by Tyrone Paterson, narrated a far more intricate tale than appears in the text, and used this opera season's largest choir to usher the drama along. The HOT chorus's fine singing yielded several "chicken-skin" moments, including the scenes around the sharpening stone, singing to the moon, the opening of Act 3, and their frantic "Parla! Il nome!" ("Speak! [Give us] his name!") as Liu died.

In short, the production was spectacular.

There was, however, one main hitch: There was no chemistry between Turandot and Calaf. It was a cold love Friday night, fitting perhaps for an Ice Princess, but not for a romance.

In part, the weakness was built into the score. Puccini might have managed a flawless conclusion but he died before composing those crucial scenes. As the opera stands, its pacing shifts suddenly, no climactic duet reconciles the lovers, and the Ice Princess never quite melts.

That weakness can sometimes be overcome through acting and choice of voices, but it was not on Friday — not so much because of the voices, which were generally good, but because of what the individual voices portrayed.

Karen Huffstodt, for example, created a perfect Ice Princess. Her clear, cool-toned dramatic soprano had an edge that made her cold anger and vengeance toward men a reality, and her powerful voice cut easily through full orchestra and chorus, making Turandot unquestionably the strongest character.

Warren Mok's lighter tenor put Calaf at a disadvantage, overpowered at times by the orchestra, but also by Turandot. Significantly, because of the opera's ending, its climactic love song turned out to be Mok's stunning solo, "Nessun dorma."

The real match for Mok's Calaf was soprano Lea Woods Friedman's Liu. Both had mid-sized, lyric voices with forward placement and tight vibratos, creating the unshakable conviction that the prince and slave girl were the true lovers, and making his choice to marry Turandot incomprehensible.

Nonetheless, the singers individually delivered fine performances: Huffstodt's ballad and three puzzles, and Friedman's Act 2 and Act 3 arias, as well as Mok's climactic "Nessun dorma."

One of the most delightful contributions to HOT's production, and an audience favorite, was the trio of ministers, baritone Quinn Kelsey (as Ping) and tenors James Price and Jeremy Blossey (as Pang and Pong, respectively). Functioning like a Greek chorus that both comments on and participates in the drama, the trio seemed truly to enjoy their roles, clowning around like old friends, and providing the best ensemble work of the evening with fine voices and excellent balance. Ping serves as one of the main characters, and Kelsey's expansive, rich baritone made his solos a pleasure.