Opera on leave

The sight of three handsome sailors bowling down the stage of the Coliseum towards you belting out "New York, New York, it's a helluva town" at the top of their voices should cheer even the curmudgeonly. This opening number of On The Town is one of the freshest Leonard Bernstein ever wrote for sheer glad-to-be-alive exuberance. It celebrates youth, love, the big city and, written in 1944 in the shadow of war, the brevity of life.

Jude Kelly's new production for ENO, the first full London staging since its premiere in 1963 and involving more than 100 singers, dancers and musicians, has the makings of a great night's entertainment.

Most reservations are caused by the work itself. It's an uneven piece with a daft story about three sailors on 24 hours' leave, which sags in the second half sequence of ballads and overlong ballets causing narrative stasis. The stage version feels undeniably flaccid compared to the much-loved, and blessedly shorter, 1949 MGM film.

The cast, drawn from opera and musical theatre and too numerous to name, has the women far outperforming the undercharacterised men. The brilliant all-singing, allshimmying Caroline O'Connor, who plays the sex-mad taxi driver Hildy, steals the show with every wiggle and wink.

She bears an uncanny resemblance to Betty Garrett in the film though we can hardly blame Gabey (a lyrical Aaron Lazar) and Chip (Adam Garcia) for not being Gene Kelly or Frank Sinatra. Lucy Schaufer, Helen Anker and Timothy Howar complete the line-up of couples with Silvia Sims, Willard White, Andrew Shore and Alison Jiear expert in cameo roles.

Production values are high, though much tightening is still needed. The opening dialogue, especially, was an incomprehensible gabble, not saved by the generally efficient amplification. Robert Jones's designs look good, especially the Forties costumes, a mixture of drab and paint-box bright, though not all New York's excitement can be conveyed by swinging girders. Choreography, by Stephen Mear, is not yet slick enough. Simon Lee, conducting, draws some languid, jazzy colours and energetic bounce from the 48-piece orchestra. The audience, groaning purists aside, loved it.

No one should object to ENO doing a musical. Variety exercises artistic and musical muscles and it's not such remote terrain. By the time he wrote his masterpiece, West Side Story (1957), Bernstein felt he was inventing the true American opera. But that had Shakespeare for plot and a more knowing score that was inside and on top of the town. There are 16 performances. Try it. But wait till it's had time to sharpen up.

Until 24 May. Information: 020 7632 8300.

English National Opera: On The Town