When it comes to opera, what wrenches the heart remains more or less constant but what makes us laugh is forever shifting. In the case of Donizetti, the serious operas still seem full-blooded, while comedies such as La Fille du Régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment) now seem undernourished.

Most modern productions compensate with strenuous knockabout, and while there are many virtues in William Kerley’s new staging for Opera Holland Park, not least Tom Rogers’s economical set, it cannot resist overplaying the rather wan humour.

The plot concerns Marie, a foundling brought up as a member of the French army. She falls in love, but when her aristocratic roots are revealed, she is forced into an unwelcome marriage, from which she is rescued only at the altar. Routinely sentimental stuff, for which Donizetti produced some lively music.

In Hye-Youn Lee, the production is blessed with a singer whose voice is bright, clean and agile. She plays Marie as a tomboy, and if there are moments of vocal sharpness, they suit the interpretation. As Tonio, the man she loves, Luciano Botelho faces some of the stiffest challenges that Italian bel canto ever threw at a singer. He fights manfully but it isn’t only the rapid-fire top Cs in his big showpiece that uncover a raw edge to his voice.

As Donizetti intended, these two dominate proceedings but there are nice comic turns from Graeme Broadbent, who plays the regimental sergeant as Basil Fawlty, and from Sarah Pring, the icy aristocrat who eventually reveals a heart of gold. Holland Park’s open-air acoustic lends a bracingly rustic edge to the wind instruments of City of London Sinfonia, Robert Dean conducts with cool efficiency, and as usual in these parts, the local peacocks show their appreciation by joining in at inopportune moments.

Until 21 June. Information: 0845 230 9769.