Something must be behind the sudden resurgence of Humperdinck's opera, which has already had two major outings this year, from Welsh National Opera and Glyndebourne. Now Covent Garden are knee-deep in rehearsals for their new production, due early next month.

Whether this is all about us striving to regain some innocence or charting its traumatic loss I'm not sure. Because while we keep trying to plumb the story's depths - Glyndebourne with a satire on consumerism, WNO with a grotesque riff on hunger - Humperdinck and his dirndled librettist (his sister, Adelheid) were doing their best to bathe the nastiness with piety and frolics.

But if the Royal Opera can balance the dark with the cute as well as the Royal Academy have done I'll be very surprised. That's partly due to the crisp direction of Sian Edwards, who conducts the student band with terrific panache. But it's also because John Ramster's staging is insightful without being distorting.

Yes he goes down the modern-day route: the Mother (Amy Radford) is a pony-tailed chav, the Father (Gerard Collett) swigs from the vodka bottle and pees in the sink. But then Ramster clears the decks for a strange and disturbing forest, the arena for a wonderfully judged dream sequence in which the loveless kids fantasise about their parents' fairytale wedding. Just a pipe dream, alas.

It's also lit up by two sparkling performances. Robyn Kirk and Charlotte Stephenson are the most believable brats I've seen: Stephenson's Hänsel in particular is a real treat, her coltish mezzo deployed with mature sophistication even while her body language screams gangly adolescent.

As for the rest, Radford's big, exciting voice needed to cleave more closely to those German vowels; Collett's baritone lacked bloom on top, but boasted bags of charm. The first night saw two so-so cameos from Adriana Festeu's Sandman (troubled by sagging intonation) and Jessica Dean's Dew Fairy (a bit squeaky). And while Stuart Haycock's witch looked fetching in drag, his butch tenor didn't sound remotely menacing. Time to agree that Humperdinck's hag is best left as a woman.

Box office: 020-7873 7300. To Nov 24

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010