sonya believes that having children has had a big impact on her stage performances. i remember, for instance, doing madea, who is so angry at her husband that she kills basically her kids. and for me, not being a mother and performing this role, it was going to be harder to understand her. you know, i'm an actress on stage. clearly being a great singer is not enough. you have to inhabit a character on stage. it's opening night for la gioconda and it'sjust under an hour before curtain is up. so i'm going to see if i can grab a quick word with some of the performers in tonight's opera. a lot of people, a lot of arts are here. in one opera, we have the ballet, we have the, we have the chorus, we have the orchestra,