‘Divas’ Digs for Dirt but Is Mostly a Wash

Even die-hard opera fans are going to have trouble getting much out of “Divas” (Monday on KCET-TV Channel 28). The program wants to be an irreverent but perceptive look at those strange but necessary creatures--the prima donnas. It is neither.

It is a jump-cut series of rambling interviews, commentaries and opera snippets focusing mostly on some current leading sopranos.

If a diva is supposed to be a tempestuously temperamental figure, the premise is flawed from the start. Maria Callas may come closest, but she had high standards. So what?

But Kiri Te Kanawa, Jessye Norman, Montserrat Caballe, Joan Sutherland temperamental? These are not singers who come with bad-girl behavior baggage.

Where are the others who do, such as Kathleen Battle?

The veddy British program opens at an auction of Sutherland’s costumes and opera memorabilia at Sotheby’s in London. An ostrich fan maybe once owned by Adelina Patti sells for 800 pounds. Bidding on Sutherland’s Lucia costume runs up to 4,500 pounds.

In light of the Jackie Onassis auction, this is penny ante.

Director Elijah Moshinsky emphasizes money as often as possible. Opera singers want it. If that isn’t shocking news, how about the time that Te Kanawa, according to a pair of chatty Royal Opera House mail-room clerks, took offense at smelling cigarette smoke?

Want even more dirt? Well, Sutherland makes some politically incorrect remarks about getting her Australian passport. She resents officious minorities working in the government office.

Grace Bumbry, Ljuba Welitsch, Birgit Nilsson and Te Kanawa say it’s hard to combine private life with a career. Norman tries to explain to a Howard University student why she doesn’t sing pop or jazz. Royal Opera House director Nicholas Payne admits he sometimes wants to “boot [divas] down Floral Street.”

And the singing? The opera excerpts rarely last longer than 45 seconds. Callas sings “Vissi d’arte,” but the editors clip the excerpt before the climactic B-flat. What could be more stupid?

* “Divas” airs at 9 tonight on KCET-TV Channel 28.