There is no absolute division between opera and musical, yet when English National Opera staged Leonard Bernstein's On the Town in 2005, it caused a ruckus.

Should a subsidised company be doing Broadway when commercial theatres were awash with musicals? Audiences voted with their feet, and ENO had to lay on extra performances. No opera company can ignore good box office, and the show now returns, with much the same cast.

On the Town premiered in 1944, when its plot, about sailors on shoreleave looking for girls in New York City, had a certain poignancy. Now, with cries of "Bring our boys home" ringing out again, the piece regains its timeliness, which Jude Kelly's production somewhat overplays.

Bernstein, only 25 when he wrote it, was intent on proving that he could do everything: Broadway razzamatazz, Tin Pan Alley sentiment, a little ballet and a touch of the symphonic all jostle for space, stretching his talent thin in places.

At 90 minutes, the first act lasts an age, and several roles are surplus to requirements, including that of singing teacher Madame Dilly, a waste of June Whitfield's no doubt expensive talent.

With conductor Simon Lee pushing hard, no one is helped by brutal amplification, which paradoxically encourages over-projection.

Yet in a show that will certainly gather momentum, Caroline O'Connor's raucous cabbie and Lucy Schaufer's randy anthropologist are already the real thing, and the sheer ensemble energy of the singing, dancing (choreographed by Stephen Mear) and staging (in Robert Jones's simple yet clever sets) sweeps aside most, if not quite all doubts.

• Until 22 May (0870 145 0200).