POP MUSIC REVIEW : Obstacles Trip Up Connie Francis : The 1950s and ‘60s singing star makes the most of her talent at the Celebrity Theatre. But atrocious sound mix and staging make it an uncomfortable walk down memory lane.

“You really don’t know what you have until you lose it,” Connie Francis told her audience at the Celebrity Theatre Saturday evening, referring to the years when she lost her voice after a traumatic 1974 rape and other personal tragedies. She has been actively singing again since 1981, and her 100-minute performance Saturday showed that the 52-year-old vocalist is making the most of her gift.

Unfortunately, that can’t be said of her show’s accompaniment or staging. Her sound mix was atrocious, with her voice run through a shrill, unnatural-sounding electronic reverb. It had a distancing effect on the humanity of her voice, and, combined with her purse-lipped style of singing, the echo almost gave the impression at times that she was lip-syncing.

Her rhythm section and the hired pit band often seemed hopelessly under-rehearsed and out of sync, improving only when her pianist conducted the band. An amateurishly produced film montage of her career further distracted from her singing.

These debits were sufficient to overwhelm the first half of Francis’ show. While there were a couple of gems--including her rendition of the standard “Maybe This Time” and Francis’ immortal movie theme “Where the Boys Are”--it mainly showcased her chirpy, barely rocking hits of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s such as “Stupid Cupid” and “Lipstick on Your Collar.” Whatever their nostalgic value, those songs didn’t give her voice much to work with.

Some of Francis’ performances have reportedly come off as seeming stiff and uncomfortable. That’s understandable considering the difficulties in her life, which have included hospitalizations for a manic-depressive condition. She seemed at ease Saturday, though, even joking about her restrictive father who had chased away her teen-age suitors at gunpoint: “That’s just the way it was when you were an Italian girl with a father who was living. Sorry Madonna, but ‘Like a Virgin’ should have been my song. I earned it.”

She recalled one date she’d had with a young Tony Perkins, when the couple were accompanied by agents, publicists and her father. She said, “The date lasted 12 minutes. The next time I saw Tony was in ‘Psycho.’ ”

The second half of Francis’ show--thankfully minus the movie screens--allowed the quality and emotion of her voice to shine through. She drew on her heritage for an Italian-language tune and the emotion-drenched “For Mama,” while “Malaguena” soared with melismatic Moorish vocal touches. Her pain-edged voice dug deeply into a Judy Garland medley, and Francis even claimed a piece of the Sinatra signature tune “My Way,” earning two standing ovations.