Pittsburgh Opera has upgraded many aspects of its young artists' staged production this year. The Opera Center is offering Jonathan Dove's "Flight," a most engaging comedy that had its premiere at England's Glyndebourne Festival in 1998. Although the venue is the commodious 400-seat CAPA Theater Downtown, the performance schedule follows the same Saturday-Tuesday-Friday-Sunday sequence as the Benedum Center subscription series. Two older professional singers have been added to the excellent apprentice cast, and the 44-piece pit orchestra is now derived from local professional union musicians.

The splendid set, designed for this theater by Carol Bailey, gives the audience a feeling of actually being inside a real airport terminal, where the story takes place. And while the singers' English diction is uniformly excellent, (thanks in no small part, no doubt, to diction coach Kathryn LaBouff), supertitles are projected above the stage to enhance comprehension and enjoyment. The ultimate effect, as staged by Kristine McIntyre with the strong musical direction of James Lowe, is that of, say, a well-oiled off-Broadway show.

The libretto by April de Angelis is based on the true story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lived in the no-man's-land departure lounge of Charles De Gaulle Airport from 1988-2006. It's the same story, although conceived independently, as "The Terminal" -- a 2004 Steven Spielberg movie that starred Tom Hanks.

The opera, however, carries a more immediate message. In the musical version, the Refugee (poignantly acted and superbly sung by guest countertenor David Walker) and the Controller (strongly vocalized by Audrey Luna, a hard-toned coloratura with sensational high notes) exert permanent influence over the lives of the seven persons stranded in the lounge by an electrical storm. It should be noted, by the way, that Opera Center's Luna is not the more established soprano of the same name who starred in Opera Theater of Pittsburgh's "Marriage of Figaro" last year. They're both good singers, but different people.

The optimum cast includes solid-voiced tenor Dean Kokanos and soprano Deborah Selig as a couple trying to improve their stale marriage with a tropical vacation; popular Pittsburgh veteran Myrna Paris simultaneously funny and sad as an older woman waiting for a young lover who will never appear; Jonathan Beyer and Katherine Drago as the Steward and Stewardess, a handsome duo with voices to match their looks; Craig Verm and Karin Mushegain as an ambassador and his pregnant wife bound for Minsk -- only briefly deterred when the woman gives birth in the lounge on stage. Even the unwanted Immigration Officer (Liam Moran) has his moment late in the play.

Dove's well-crafted score is tuneful, harmonically old-fashioned but complex in its rhythmic make up and colorful orchestration -- especially notable for some ear-tingling pop-inspired percussive effects. There's not a weak link in this production. It's by far the best thing the Opera Center has done: an evening of total theater not to be missed.

For tickets, call 412-456-6666.