In The Rake's Progress, Stravinsky dressed his music in 18th-century costume but still managed to sound entirely himself.

It's a good work for young singers; the vocal demands are not exorbitant, and WH Auden's sly text is a good test of their ability to communicate, even if London's colleges are not exclusively full of native anglophones.

The Royal College of Music's new staging features alternating casts; last night's performers included a Pole and an Icelander, both singing as clearly as full-time professionals. The scale of the college's bijou Britten Theatre helps but the steeply raked stage and Tim Carroll's over-choreographed production did no one any favours.

Soutra Gilmour's designs set the action in a mid-Atlanticised London, somewhere between 1930 and 1960. At first Jonathan Stoughton's Tom, more Nice-but-Dim than Rakewell, pushed the voice hard but he developed depth, building a real rapport with Aaron McAuley's Nick Shadow. The pivotal graveyard scene had genuine tension.

Stephanie Lewis resisted the temptation to overplay Baba, Tom's wife. While Sadhbh Dennedy's Anne was occasionally strained, her wide-eyed innocence was utterly believable. Under Michael Rosewell, the orchestra missed some of the music's energy but the wind playing had a sulphurous pungency.

• Tomorrow, Saturday (020 7591 4314).