One swallow does not a summer make, and even La Rondine couldn't quite dispel the evening chill in Holland Park's open-air theatre. Puccini's swallow - the "rondine" of the title - is Magda, who is first seen giving a soiree in the Paris apartment paid for by her rich lover, and then falls in love with the not-so-rich Ruggero, who sweeps her off to the south coast. When he proposes, she confesses her past and, for the sake of his family, leaves him - whereupon, we presume, she flies back north and makes her cycle of migration complete. It is Traviata without the interesting bits.
It is one of Puccini's flimsier operas musically, too, though he does invest the unpromising story with his unfailing theatrical nous. He uses up his best tune - the gorgeous Il bel sogno - during the first 10 minutes, and after that the score is a sugary confection, yet it flows with such propulsion that the only thing to do is to sit back and enjoy.
In Peter Rice's designs the opera looks good from the start. There isn't much room for dancing in Bullier's in act two, which is so light and clean that it suggests more the local boulangerie than a glamorous dive, but in the domestic scenes of acts one and three the unfussy sets work beautifully.
The musical rewards on this occasion came later, as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra took until the third act to sound convincing; early on, the conductor Jeremy Silver was having to work too hard to keep things together. Having such a small orchestra means that, in this kind of music, the playing can sound thin - three cellos just aren't enough.
The cast, though, is a strong point. Singing the maid Lisette with wit and spirit, Gail Pearson holds the stage whenever she is on it, and there are well-drawn performances from Dominic Natoli as her admirer Prunier and Seán Ruane as Ruggero. But if there is one singer that makes the production, it is the French soprano Anne-Sophie Duprels, who sings Magda. It is arguable whether the heroine should be quite as guileless as Duprels plays her, but vocally she is just right, her singing full of colour and sparkle. It is worth going just to hear her.
· In rep until July 26. Box office: 020-7361 2295.
