Shostakovich consigned his only operetta, Moscow, Cheryomushki, to his personal B-list. The composer went so far as to beg his friends not to attend the premiere of a work which, in a dark moment, he described as "boring, feeble and stupid".
Those are not words that leap to mind after seeing Opera North's new production. Renamed Paradise Moscow, this is a reorchestrated, expanded version of the 1994 Pimlico Opera production arranged for small band by Gerard McBurney. It uses director David Pountney's sharp, incisive translation - a vast improvement on the rather stilted original. Add McBurney's keen instinct for theatre scoring, Craig Revel Horwood's inspired choreography and an outstanding cast, and you have one of Opera North's finest creations in years.
Paradise Moscow is not an operetta in the strict sense: it has a fast-moving dialogue and song-and-dance routines more reminiscent of vaudeville. Pountney has exploited this magnificently, especially with regard to his villains. Barabashkin (Campbell Morrison) oscillates between sounding like a deranged sergeant-major and a likable Bob Hoskins, while Vava (Margaret Preece), the boss's conniving girlfriend, has a wonderful cockney screech unnervingly reminiscent of Terry Jones in Life of Brian.
Moscow, Cheryomushki was the gentlest of satires on Soviet life, but Paradise Moscow is a fully blown send-up, with the cavorting figures of Lenin, Stalin and Marx making a memorable appearance. KGB men pop up repeatedly and irrelevantly, more ridiculous than sinister. The extent to which Pountney has revised the libretto is especially blatant when Masha and Sasha compare reactions to the sound of a doorbell: Masha's memories - innocent in the original - are of feet on the stairs, limousines in the streets and a suitcase kept packed by the door. It felt slightly overdone. But there can be little doubt that Shostakovich would have loved this production - he might even have added Paradise Moscow to his A-list.
• Until May 12. Box office: 0113-222 6222. Then at Sadler's Wells, London EC1 (020-7863 8000), from May 23.
