Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci, review Once an essential standby for every flea-bitten touring opera company, this double bill of coarsely flavoured Italian melodramas now seems to be losing popularity, though there are rumours that Covent Garden is planning a swish new production conducted by Antonio Pappano. Alas, that's precisely where Opera Holland Park's new production of Cav fell down, and for once it wasn't the fault of the director - Stephen Barlow had the perfectly sound idea of transferring the setting to neo-realist Italy during the austerity days of 1944, illustrating the prelude with a saucy glimpse of Turiddu (Peter Auty) and Lola (Hannah Pedley) making the bedsprings creak. But the conducting lacked urgency and drive, snap and crackle: Stuart Stratford seemed content to wallow lazily in a nice warm bath, while on stage Gweneth Ann Jeffers" Santuzza emerged as grumpily morose rather than murderously vindictive. What should have been red-hot glowed only pallidly and left Cav a bit of a drag. Things picked up considerably for Pag. Here Barlow pressed the fast-forward button to 1974, allowing his designer Yannis Thavoris to burst into colour, while Stratford suddenly moved into top gear without breaking the speed limit DASH there is some attractive detail in Leoncavallo's score, and the City of London Sinfonia was given time and space to honour it. Peter Auty convinced both vocally and dramatically as a pathetic lumbering dolt of an anguished Canio, just the sort of man who would end up stabbing his blowsy, busty tart of a bored wife - in this case Julia Sporsen's Nedda, a vivid characterisation. Against competition from passing helicopters, Stephen Gadd also made a strong impression as screwed-up Tonio, and Chang-Han Lim and Andrew Glover did sterling work as Silvio and Beppe. The chorus - often one of Holland Park's ropier features - sounded fresh and vigorous throughout. But the performance didn't finish until 10.45, and not for the first time, I was left feeling that Pag alone would have provided more than enough B-picture entertainment for one evening. Until 28 June. Tickets: 0300 999 1000. www.operahollandpark.com