Bartok's only opera may be everywhere at the moment - Scottish Opera's new production opens on Friday - but chances to see it alongside his ballets, The Wooden Prince or The Miraculous Mandarin, are rare. However, whether the Hungarian National Opera and Ballet's double bill with the Mandarin worked is unclear.
Had the production of Bluebeard's Castle been more prepossessing, the evening might have gelled; as it was, the cartoon garishness of the ballet comes as relief after the dramatic inertia that afflicts the opera. Andras Miko's production is a museum piece, with a badly lit set (by Gabor Forray) of forbidding pillars that ascend and descend again, in front of which the two protagonists wage their battle of wills. There are no doors, and therefore no keys, and just a few changes in the lighting from one lurid colour to another to indicate what Judith sees as each is opened.
The acting from soprano Andrea Melath as Judith and Peter Fried as Bluebeard is minimal too - the concert performance of Bluebeard at the Proms six weeks ago generated far more dramatic tension - but then the direction makes no attempt to explore the work's psychological themes. The singing is decent - there's an edge to Melath's voice that is a bit too steely while Fried needs more bass gravitas - and well played by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, conducted by Jano Kovacf, though, like what happens onstage, it never strikes any sparks.
· Ends tonight. Box office: 0870 737 7737.
