Pole dancing at the ENO

Pole dancers in blue flapper dresses play the seductive Rhine-daughters, setting the tone for the Coliseum's first production after its £41 million facelift.

Critics were kept away from the first night of the English National Opera's The Rhinegold because of lack of rehearsal time on stage.

Delays in completing the refurbishment led to cancelled performances and estimated losses of £250,000. But the restoration of the 100-year-old theatre brought favourable comments at the first night of the prelude to Wagner's Ring cycle.

There were minor niggles as the Wagnerites wandered in some confusion through their new Valhalla of bars and lounges and improved seating. But they found their familiar auditorium resplendent in terracotta and cream.

Here at last, after an eight-month closure, was a Coliseum to stand comparison with the handsome updating of the more expensive Royal Opera House. Using a split-level stage, Phyllida Lloyd's production has the god Wotan singing in his bath and the villain Alberich as an orange-suited spiv.

However, despite modern technology, in the higher reaches of the Coliseum you could still hardly hear what the sopranos were singing.

As Raymond Gubbay competes with the ENO for the title of People's Opera with productions at the Savoy Theatre and the Albert Hall, it is a problem that doesn't go away.

But with a newly-padded seat in the balcony costing £10, this has to be one of the best operatic bargains in London.