Pavarotti in the Rain in London

Luciano Pavarotti’s epic roadshow rumbles on, defying even a drenching rainstorm that threatened to wash out his mammoth concert in London’s Hyde Park last July.

Indeed, the rain becomes an unexpected asset in “Pavarotti in Hyde Park” (London, $35), for it creates a dramatic obstacle to be overcome and adds a human dimension to what could have been just another of the tenor’s mass rituals.

On this laser disc, director Christopher Swann has a field day with the acres of wildly colorful umbrellas and the sea of thousands of stoic British faces as they muddle through this damp classical Woodstock. Even Princess Diana emerges at the end soaking wet, like the commoners.

The concert itself is road-tested formula: bread-and-butter Italian opera arias (with a brief detour into Massenet), Neapolitan songs, the socko “Nessun dorma” encore, long stretches of time for conductor Leone Magiera, flutist Andrea Griminelli and the reliable Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus to fill.

Pavarotti’s trumpet-like voice still sounded formidable at 55, and he could muster a surprising amount of emotion in even a worn-out aria like “Vesti la giubba.”

Interestingly, he takes greater care with dynamics and expression in the songs than the arias; most of the latter are belted in a manner recalling the “Three Tenors” circus of 1990. Yet one can’t deny that the tenor radiates a joyous charisma that keeps building as the soggy day turns to night in old London town.