"Tosca" is a musically challenging drama that opera planners delayed staging for years until they felt local performers were sufficiently accomplished, and now they are hoping audiences can relax and appreciate that talent up close.

"We're trying to do something where people can come and have a glass of wine and make an evening of it," said Dan Wayne, the show's managing producer. The basic concept was opera as theater, picking something that would make a good dramatic presentation.

"Imagine ... one of your favorite dramatic plays and set it to music," Wayne said. "That's what we're striving for, and we didn't have to go that far because ... that's what Puccini was envisioning."

Puccini composed "Tosca" after conning the rights for it away from a rival in 1895. In turn, plenty of his rivals came to the premier in Rome five years later, anticipating a bomb after his successful "Manon Lescaut" and "La Bohème." There also were rumors of an actual bomb being thrown into the audience during the performance. Critics' reviews were at best mixed ("shabby little shocker" is perhaps its most famous blurb), but audience reaction was enthusiastic, and it is now the eighth most performed opera in North America, according to the nonprofit Opera America.

The story takes place during Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Italy, with painter Mario Cavaradossi helping an escaped political prisoner. His actions lead to turmoil with his lover, the songstress Floria Tosca, due to the villainous plotting of Baron Scarpia, Rome's chief of police.

"Comedies are a little bit harder than dramas because the timing has to be so precise for the jokes to work," she said.

Juneau Lyric Opera had to wait until Oct. 1, after the Twisted Fish closed for the season, to turn the restaurant into an impromptu theater. A few directing adjustments are being made because of the small and unusually shallow 34-by-10-foot stage, such as having the chorus perform offstage to the side of the audience.

But the most notable change may be in the performers' acting style.

"If you need your emotions to reach to the back of the high school audience, you need some kind of dramatic motion," Cramer said. "Here, if you raise an eyebrow, the audience in the back row is gong to see it."

Juneau actors Philippe Damerval and David Miller will alternate the roles of Scarpia and the political prisoner Cesare Angelotti. Wayne said they agreed to do so because there are so few lead roles in opera for baritones.

"We had two guys that auditioned, and they were both so good," Wayne said. "They've both been involved in other opera productions, and it seemed unfair not to let one of them sing."

Soprano Kathleen Wayne plays Tosca, and tenor Jay Query is cast as Cavaradossi. One outsider is bass Paul Shipper, of New York City, who was a last-minute fill-in two years ago for "The Barber of Seville" and agreed to a more leisurely arrangement this year to play the role of the sacristan in the church where Angelotti takes refuge.

The shows will be in Italian with English supertitles. Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase from the Twisted Fish during both intermissions.

A limited availability of tickets at the door is expected, but Wayne said Juneau Lyric Opera has often been forced to turn away 10 to 15 people a night at previous performances. So it's best to come early.