Daniel Slater's animated production of Donizetti's enchanting operatic comedy updates the action from the early 19th century to La Dolce Vita' Italy in the late 1950s.

Capricous landowner, Adina, is the proprieter of the Hotel Adina where the lovelorn Nemerino, who has the hots for his boss, is a waiter. The slick, dashing Belcore - Nemorino's rival for Adina's hand in marriage - is a captain in the Navy and might be a more attractive proposition than the waiter.

Enter the elixir-touting quack, Doctor Dulcamara, who makes a spectacular descent in a hot air balloon. Nemorino, in the belief that Adina does not have feelings for him, thinks that Dulcamara's miracle love potion (in reality, nothing more than cheap red plonk) should do the trick and even goes as far as enlisting in the Navy to raise money for a second bottle of the stuff.

All eventually ends in bliss when Adina realises that Belcore is merely a flash in the pan, whereas with Nemorino it will be for life.

Updatings do not always succeed, this one does so handsomely. The 1950s are far enough away for the decade to be perceived as a period of glamour and innocence. When the curtain rises to reveal the sun-drenched hotel terrace, you just want to rush on stage, sit down at a table, order a frothy capuccino - or maybe something stronger - and soak up the atmosphere.

Daniel Slater and designer, Robert Innes Hopkins, wonderfully evoke nostalgia for a lost era in a production that is sharply observed and rich in authentic detail.

For example, Belcore breezes in on an iconic Vespa scooter.

Andrew Kennedy's Nemorino more closely resembles the old stereotype of an Englishman abroad but Kennedy's voice is pure gold, with a gleaming upper register - and he does catch Nemorino's essential rawness.

Anna Ryberg's appealing Adina is vocally superb and she makes light work of the most demanding passages.

Peter Savidge's dapper Dulcamara is an endearing rogue and Riccardo Simonetti portrays Belcore with an air of swaggering nonchalance.

The ensembles were brilliantly handled by conductor Tecwyn Evans and the orchestra and chorus were on scintillating form.