When Austria's Emperor Joseph II heard Mozart's "Abduction From the Seraglio," he is reported to have said, "Far too beautiful for our ears, my dear Mozart, and a monstrous quantity of notes."

The story is told as though the emperor were such a dolt he did not recognize genius, but in a way, he was right.

Mozart's "Abduction" was unlike any previous Singspiel (a genre of German musical) and not yet the dramma giocoso Mozart invented only four years later, a genre that fully integrated music with drama. "Abduction" is a still number work, in which concert pieces ("numbers") are connected by a plot that progresses around, rather than through, the pieces.

The pieces Mozart wrote for "Abduction" included not the folk-inspired ditties of Singspiel, but full-blown operatic display arias, designed to show off what a voice can do — in other words, show-stoppers, and hence, perhaps, the emperor's comment that it had too many notes.

It is no coincidence that few operas composed before Mozart's dramma giocoso remain in the repertoire: Modern audiences are unaccustomed to plots pausing to allow audiences to relish the moment and what a singer (and Mozart) can make of it. But that is what "Abduction" does.

For Hawai'i Opera Theatre's production, director Henry Akina chose strong lead singers to make the most of those moments. And he keeps the drama moving with visual ornamentation and lively staging.

During the overture, Akina has added an entertaining, mimed preface that concisely explains the story's background.

There are only six lead parts in "Abduction," but Akina keeps the stage bustling: In addition to the chorus of Janissaries and harem women, supernumeraries included belly dancers provided by Malia Delapenia of Malia In Hawaii, guardians of the harem, and a bevy of "Miss Hawaiis" distinguished by their colorful costumes as the wives of Pasha Selim.

Akina's staging is detailed, playful, amusing, designed to fill out the plot and deepen the characters: Blonde, for example, has a lustful side and her high notes come from smoking a hookah. In Singspiel tradition, Akina also tinkered with the libretto, modernizing its gags to sharpen their impact, as in the "news first/kiss first" exchange between Blonde and Pedrillo.

HOT's "Abduction" is sung in English (with supertitles, thankfully), which helps emphasize the drama's Enlightenment- inspired lessons of social tolerance.

HOT resident designer Peter Dean Beck created all of the settings from one basic set, classically centered on a graceful ogee arch. Beck's design allows the drama to flow without pause, offsetting the blocked structure of number arias.

The focus throughout remains on the six leads, also classically balanced into twos and threes: the noble lovers Konstanze (soprano Rachelle Durkin) and Belmonte (tenor George Dyer), threatened by the Turk Pasha Selim (a nonsinging role played by Jason Scott Lee); and the servant couple Blonde (soprano Audrey Elizabeth Luna) and Pedrillo (tenor Jeffrey Halili), threatened by Pasha's guard Osmin (bass Ashley Howard Wilkinson).

Durkin presents a sympathetic and believable Konstanze while delivering dynamite arias. Mozart made Konstanze the vocal, musical and moral center of "Abduction," and Durkin lives up to the part. Belmonte is a less central part, but Dyer both looks and sings a noble character.

Halili, small and slight, with a bright, forward-placed tenor, turns out to be a master character actor and makes a wonderful Pedrillo, with appealing antics and excellent timing.

As the villain, Osmin tends to elicit more hisses than applause, but the absence of applause after both of Wilkinson's big scenes came as a surprise. There was a bit of tug of war from the orchestra and awkward exit timing, but Wilkinson, large and imposing, looked his part, sang a difficult role well, and his dark, almost black bass rumbled convincingly. Luna, slender with a very light coloratura soprano, provided a comic spitfire foil for Osmin.

As Pasha Selim, Lee seems at times to be channeling Yul Brynner's king in the "The King and I": rough-edged, barking orders, clipping ends of lines. He tends more toward bluster than majesty, and it is the majesty that makes Selim's gracious pardon at the end believable.

Although also a morality play, Mozart's "Abduction" is first and foremost a comedy, meant to be entertaining. HOT's production is certainly that, full of artful fun.