'Oooh" enthuses Queen Helen of Sparta as a young shepherd lad strips off his shirt. Quite a few ladies of various ages all around me in the Coliseum murmured their own appreciation as well. The well-muscled torso duly revealed belongs to former New College choral scholar Toby Spence (pictured), who both looks and sounds just right in this new ENO production of Offenbach's operetta. Queen Helen has yet to discover the shepherd's true identity, but it's no wonder that she is immediately interested, for there plainly isn't much doing in the royal bedchamber these days as the curtain goes up, her husband King Menelaus is fast asleep in a giant double bed. Not even an invasion by a whole gang of heavy-footed Greek kings wakes him up.

This ENO Belle Hlne began life at the Thtre du Chtelet in Paris, where director Laurent Pelly has embarked on a series of wacky, but also extremely witty, recreations of the Offenbach canon. Director Pelly has transferred with Belle Hlne, but this being ENO, performances are in English. This could be a major drawback, but thanks to Kit Hesketh-Harvey's translation, the humour contained in Meilhac and Halvy's original libretto survives remarkably unscathed and, wisely, mock-operatic ensemble numbers like L'homme la pomme remain in French.

Laurent Pelly doesn't hold with chorus members standing about motionless, and the ENO chorus, strengthened by a team of dancers, does wonders in pulling off Laura Scozzi's colourful choreography there is a particularly hilarious scene in which a gang of scantily-clad tourists have to hop over tightly packed sunbeds in the beach-resort of Nauplia in strict time to the music. If the chorus singing is occasionally ragged as a result, the price is well worth paying.

Besides Toby Spence, the dream team of principal soloists is completed by Bonaventura Bottone as Menelaus, David Kempster as Agamemnon, Steven Page as Calchas, and by Felicity Lott as Queen Helen. Her voice and consummate comedy acting skills reach, seemingly effortlessly, right to the back of the vast Coliseum auditorium, and her performance alone is worth the price of a ticket.

There are further performances of La Belle Hlne at the London Coliseum on May 4, 6, 11, 13, 17 and 19. Tickets: 0870 145 0200 or www.eno.org