<BR><B>Sweet on the Lyric</B> <BR>BY MIKE THOMAS for The Chicago Sun-Times<P>Chicago’s performing arts community is rife with artists for whom Klieg lights and standing ovations are part of daily existence. They make everything—the arabesques, the arias, the soliloquies, the sonatas—look easy. Getting to that point, of course, requires not only talent and drive, but hours of intensive toil. Perhaps most importantly, it requires extraordinary behind-the-scenes support from those whose sole job is to drill, shape, polish; whose self-satisfaction comes not from public glory, but from making the stars shine their brightest.<P><A HREF="http://www.suntimes.com/output/show/sho-sunday-behind03.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>