Singer Riding Creative Crest

Sarah Brightman headlining a tour with hi-tech holographic special effects? That we can buy.

Sarah Brightman serenading the world atop a globe at the opening of the Beijing Summer Olympics? We can see that.

Sarah Brightman in a gory low-budget horror flick involving human organs being repossessed?

Hold up. Wait a minute.

But it's true. Brightman was contacted by director Darren Lynn Bousman ("Saw II," "Saw III" and "Saw IV") to play an opera singer in "Repo! The Genetic Opera." Brightman stars alongside Paul Sorvino, Paris Hilton and Nivek Ogre of Skinny Puppy.

"I loved the script," Brightman says by telephone from Mexico City. "Mine's not a huge role but it's an important one."

Brightman plays Blind Mag, who records for a multinational corporation that creates artificial human organs and ... but perhaps we're giving too much away.

"I had a ball making it," Brightman says. The movie, she says, "is funky, it's different, it's not everyone's cup of tea."

It's certainly a different cup of tea for Brightman. She rose to fame as Andrew Lloyd Webber's muse and, for a time, his wife, before striking out on her own with a musical career that combines pop, theater and symphonic music with elaborate stage spectacles.

Her current tour ups the elaborate ante quite a bit with morphing holographic imagery that puts Brightman in any number of different settings, from giant fish tanks to fairy tale scenes and ornate ballrooms.

As with anything this complex, there's a lot that can go wrong. But two shows into the tour, so far, so good.

"I was worried because obviously this is very new technology," Brightman says. "But it's working well. We're hearing gasps from the audience."

Brightman worked closely with the creative minds behind the effects.

"I had a clear picture of the world I wanted to create," Brightman says. "I explained to the artists what was in my head. They created stills and we worked from them until we got it right."

It would take just such a spectacular presentation to compete with the last time we saw Brightman, performing the Olympic theme song, "You and Me," with Chinese singing star Liu Huan during the opening ceremonies to the Summer Games.

"I was called by the Chinese five or six days before the ceremony," Brightman says. "They said, 'We would really like you to do this. You're the only Western artist we've asked.'"

"I said, 'I can't move until I hear the song.' They were so secretive and so worried about sending the song," Brightman says.

The officials relented and Brightman was impressed enough she agreed to appear, just in the nick of time.

"I got myself sorted out, got on the plane and then went straight to the arena," Brightman says.

"The whole experience was such a lovely thing," Brightman says. "It's one of the most emotional performances I've ever done."

It's been quite a year for Brightman, who released "Symphony" early in 2008 and a holiday-themed album, "A Winter Symphony," in November. Sure enough, her show will feature Christmas-themed settings to accompany the holiday tunes.

ON TOUR

Sarah Brightman

WHEN: 8 p.m., Sunday

WHERE: The Forum, 401 Channelside Drive, Tampa; (813) 301-2500