Renowned soprano Julia Migenes brings her one- woman show Diva on the Verge to the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble for a limited run (Dec. 9-Jan. 6, 2001). Migenes takes the audience on a roller-coaster ride through the worlds of opera, Broadway and cabaret, delivering many of her trademark songs and arias along the way.

Migenes was born in New York into a family of Greek and Irish-Puerto Rican extraction. She made her stage debut at the age of three-and-a-half in the opera "Madama Butterfly." A year later, she and her brother began performing on radio shows and at Macy's and other malls around New York. Having enrolled at the Moser Academy for artistic children, she was picked to join the national touring company of South Pacific. While studying later at the New York High School for the Performing Arts she was asked by Leonard Bernstein to be a soloist in his production of Aaron Copeland's "The Second Hurricane."

On Broadway, she played the role of Maria in West Side Story and Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, managing at the same time to sing for the New York City Opera. After Fiddler, she emigrated to Europe to study voice and to sing at the Wiener Volksoper. She has sung major roles in Europe, America, Australia, South America and Japan.

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. For tickets and information call (310) 477-2055.

-- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent