Here, Alden pulls together three very different one-act works, under the collective title of What Fools These Husbands Be!, in modern (but not attention-getting) dress and simple settings, drills the young artists, presumably forever, to get flawless ensemble performances, and then the director employs just one singer to appear in each opera, "binding" the works together. And how!

Gerald Thompson is a sweet-voiced counter-tenor with an effortless, elegant delivery . . . and a non-theatrically Everyman appearance — not much hair, a oblong shape, with an innocent, benign expression on a round face. Alden put the finishing touches on with simple, drab clothes, crowned by a rather ill-fitting brown sleeveless pullover, presumably from a Sears sale. So here is our Candide, walking in and out of three different stories, three different periods, observering or taking part in the action, then breaking out in gorgeous Elizabethan songs, by Thomas Campion and John Dowland. And staying in the background.

It all worked perfectly, but reached a peak in Donizetti's Rita, hitting funny bones so painfully that tears welled up in my eyes, as I was sliding out of my seat helplessly. Thompson appeared as a hotel guest, delivering a ravishing "Beauty is but a painted hell" in the empty dining room, then tried to follow the rapid Italian dialogue as the complicated story unfolded.

At one point, he asked meekly if anyone spoke English, and then cleverly worked his way downstage, peering up to the supertitles to figure things out. And yet staying in the background, thanks to Alden. Our repeated calling attention to Alden refraining from doing the same has to do with a simple-to-observe, but difficult-to-do basic rule: even the cleverest trick on stage backfires if it diverts attention from the work itself. A directorial ego held in check goes a long way, a shtick modestly enhancing the work is a rare thing of beauty.

Rita, with a heroine Alden calls "a bush-league forerunner of Turandot", is a gloriously melodic work — as are all Donizettis, neglected as the composer may be by the past three SFO administrations — about a self-liberated 19th century woman, who'd rather beat one husband than be beaten by another.

The cast featured a trio of Adler Fellows, all on fire. Thomas Glenn's "very Italian" tenor, as Beppe, (the mild-mannered husband), and Eugen Brancoveanu's blustery "Russian-type" bully with hopes for a New World marriage next ("O Canada!" said the supertitles at one point), worked beautifully with the landmark performance of Nikki Einfeld in the title role. With a sudden burst in the young soprano's development, a formerly pleasant, soubrette-type singer now serves up blazing, rock-solid, effortless bel canto — most impressive!

And so was Joshua Bloom in Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona, fighting with (and losing to) Jane Archibald's dominatrix Serpina, the bass barefoot and in silver (but unostentatious) PJ's, doing eyepopping physical comedy, but above all, singing fabulously. His is a big, warm, "true-bass" voice, exactly right in the middle range and for low notes, although "whiting out" occasionally in the upper range. Through it all, Bloom exhibits a vocal (and stage) presence that is reminiscent of the Great Ones in their youth. Here, obviously, is a singer more than "promising" — you can bet the bank on this one.

Bloom also took a small part in the eeriest work on the program, playing a rather randy father-in-law, at least, in Alden's suggestive direction. Darius Milhaud's Le Pauvre Matelot, with libretto by Jean Cocteau, is about a sailor (Sean Panikkar), who mysteriously disappears for some 15 years, leaving behind a Penelope/Leonora-type faithful wife (Kimwana Doner), who eventually turns into a Fidelio . . . but "liberating" her husband by killing him. Given in one act at Cowell, the "Poor Sailor" is actually a three-act opera, difficult to imagine filling a whole evening with its simple — if bizarre — story, and music that's just passable.

Fortunately, Rita followed, and that happy experience made possible misgivings about the Milhaud moot. See www.sfopera.com for additional performances next weekend.