Lyric Opera's production of Lehar's operetta was a mixed medium affair in which Vivian Coates's fully staged musical numbers were linked by Tom Stoppard's witty narration, impeccably delivered by Bill Golding. The trouble was that the text was intended to accompany a concert performance. At the NCH some elements of the plot had two outings, with the narrative doubling up the acted out scenes, which hindered smooth pacing.

Musical pacing, on the other hand, was well controlled by conductor Aidan Faughey, who elicited elegant playing from his 25-piece orchestra and maintained good balance with the amplified voices of the singers. And there's the rub. Whoever decided to put body mikes on the singers did them no service. Booming and/or shrill sounds abounded; and the sung words were often obscured.

Kathryn Smith's Hanna suffered particularly badly. Her mid range came across as thin and her high notes were thick and unfocused. Alan Beck's rich tenor, by contrast, thundered out too operatically for comfort. Paul Kelly's lyrical Camille fared better, apart from some blasted high notes. Only Sandra Oman's Valencienne survived intact, her creamy soprano sounding consistently good.

The lesser roles, made even smaller without their dialogue, were well played and sung by Eugene Arnstrong, John Scott and Gerry Noonan. The chorus sang strongly; Siobhan McQuillan's dancers did a show-stopping cancan; and Bill Golding got to sing the extra song Lehar wrote for Njegus; which he did with enough aplomb to confirm his status as star of the show. Which is not quite what you expect in a performance of The Merry Widow.