Ever since Kenneth MacMillan's Manon made its first appearance at Covent Garden in 1974 his lusty tale of an avaricious 18th-century French courtesan has gone from strength to strength. It's in the repertoire of more than a dozen international companies; now English National Ballet has joined the club.

ENB has been touring Manon in the regions and will do so again in April and May. But for now Manon is in London, opening just weeks after the Royal Ballet ended its latest revival. Comparisons with the Royal are thus inevitable and also unfair - MacMillan's theatrical block- busters are the Royal's lifeblood. Still, it can only help ENB to take on a ballet that tests technique and dramatic ability to the full.

This production comes from the Royal Danish Ballet bearing insipid designs by Mia Stensgaard. The look is streamlined - all the energy is in the costumes, the set is meagre - but though the lack of 18th-century decoration brings the choreography into brighter focus the staging feels like a gloomy Nordic rewrite. It doesn't help that Manon, the pretty minx torn between love and greed, is garbed in a succession of colourless frocks.

The key to MacMillan's high-pitched choreography (set to a patchwork Massenet score) is to keep it moving and to keep it real. ENB do their best with the former, though you can see that the latter is a challenge, especially for the ensemble, who are asked to provide a believable array of harlots, beggars, footmen, gentlemen and guards. Some performances do stand out. The scene in which Manon is sexually assaulted by the Gaoler is suitably sinister, thanks to Fabian Reimair's strong showing; while Antony Dowson, as a powerful Monsieur GM, measures his drama in careful, effective doses and, in so doing, highlights overacting elsewhere.

The husband-and-wife duo of Thomas Edur and Agnes Oaks (pictured) led the first cast. She's a beautiful dancer, her sensual style etched with an elegant decorative touch, but she takes Manon at face value. Even her moment of diamond lust, when she realises the benefits of being GM's mistress, is delivered with a modest ripple of pleasure. It's only in Edur's inspiring presence that she digs deeper.

Des Grieux is the romantic student who wins Manon's heart and they don't come more romantic than Edur. Every inch of his dancing glows with passion. Their final scene, with Manon stripped of vanity and facing death in the Louisiana swamps, was spectacular. Oaks imbued her fabulously delirious dancing with all the emotion she had been holding in check. She and Edur have always been a superb pair, but Manon has allowed them to take their special relationship one exhilarating step farther.

Box office: 0871 9110200, to Jan 11

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