Dido and Aeneas/Acis and Galatea (Royal Opera)

The Royal Opera present precious little Baroque opera so this generous double bill is a breath of fresh air. To add to this generosity, the Royal Ballet have joined them and most significantly Wayne McGregor, the resident choreographer, has directed the whole thing. Sadly the end product is very much a McGregor show, endlessly attractive but fairly hollow. Style triumphing (especially in Galatea) over substance.

"Dido and Aeneas" is comfortably the stronger part of the evening. First and foremost the core opera is dramatically stronger and McGregor attaches to this some effective stage images that enhance without distracting. The dance is very much second fiddle here, in fact the Royal Ballet hardly get a look in providing filler between the scenes but little more. It's typical McGregor choreography, danced efficiently but unspectacularly. The architectural sets are nicely evocative and McGregor uses the chorus in a very intelligent fashion. Often on the move, the chorus is more interesting than the pure dancers around.

Whilst the production looks good it doesn't overly impose itself, which is no bad thing when you've got a cast like this. Sarah Connolly (remarkably only now debuting at Covent Garden) is an absolute powerhouse of a singer yet she projects her magnificent voice with an air of vulnerability, a combination that on paper sounds like an oxymoron but somehow on stage isn't. This is a truly a performance to savour, her Lament was heartrending. She receives able support from Lucy Crowe (also on debut), a radiant soprano who produced a similarly tender performance. Iestyn Davies, yet another debut (long overdue), takes the tiny role of the Spirit, but his luscious vocals come across even in such a small role. His is a pure counter-tenor of serious beauty and hopefully the Royal Opera will have him back many times in the future. The appearance of the Spirit was the only occasion when the dance really came into its own, a truly mercurial solo danced by Steven McRae. None of the remaining singers came quite up to the plate although Eri Nakamura (one of the Jette Young Artists) continues to impress the small roles she's given. Lucas Meachem was a fairly dull unimposing Aeneas and Sara Fulgoni whilst nasty enough vocally lacked some heft.

"Acis and Galatea" isn't quite so riveting. The thin story is padded to almost ninety minutes leaving some massive longeurs and whilst the music is never less than brilliant, theatrically it never is. McGregor effectively doubles all the roles, a dancer and a singer, to variable effect. It gives rise to a clever dualism, the earthy singers paired with the more magical, godly dancers, but it distracted and as usual his choreography is more flash than content. This marks a step in the right direction for him narratively with some more lyrical steps and a couple of duets that almost suggest emotion but it's still too harsh and clinical to my mind. The designs here are a bizarre mishmash. The bucolic idyll that is initially conjured gives way to a series of disorientating backdrops and incoherent props, the rotating building looking tacky especially when compared with the clean designs of "Dido". Only in the final moments when the dancer Acis, Edward Watson, and the singer Galatea, Danielle de Niese, come together in a gorgeous bit of dance does the dual casting truly soar and the confusing production finally justify itself.

The singing is strong without the brilliance of the "Dido" cast. De Niese is a polished performer but her voice is not world class. She projects quite well, albeit with some weak diction, but her soprano is small and the huge auditorium rather dwarfs it. Charles Workman has marvellously potent lungs and navigated the essentially chamber music with real flair and a lot of gusto. Matthew Rose has the vocal prowess, I don't think I've ever been unimpressed by his rock-solid bass, but he's lumbered with some cumbersome movement. Paul Agnew gave a confident performance but his rather muddy voice wasn't completely to my taste. Ji-Min Park, a Jette Young Artist who will go far, needs to work on his diction (a mess of peculiar vowel sounds) but is otherwise a remarkable singer. Of the dancers it's Lauren Cuthbertson and Watson who get the best of the choreography. I haven't seen Cuthbertson take on quite so sexy a role before but she oozes sex appeal and makes for a very fine double to De Niese. Eric Underwood shows the softer side of Polyphemus, his rippling muscles a clever counterpoint to the exposed Rose.

"Dido" comes up trumps mostly because the production provides an efficient background to a truly superb opera sung by a tremendous cast headed by Connolly. "Acis" struggles because it needs a strong directorial hand to bring out the drama and McGregor, despite some interesting ideas, doesn't quite have this. I'd love to see more opera direction from him, preferably without the pure dance. He steers the chorus in a fascinating manner and he commits to the text rather than imposing his own ideas which I really like. Whatever its failings this is a near unmissable evening. The gorgeous music is played with such aplomb under Christopher Hogwood, who never once let the pace flag, by the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment that it's almost worth the price of entry alone. A flawed evening, but a welcome one.