Opera review: The Cunning Little Vixen at Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Imagine a cross between Beatrix Potter, a pantomime for adults, a wildlife documentary and Disney's Lion King, only with foxes instead of lions, and you may get the idea.

It is also the only opera that started life as a newspaper comic strip.

All these contrasting elements make it a real challenge to stage, but Melly Still's production at Glyndebourne is a masterpiece, capturing exactly the right tone to make it delightful throughout without ever becoming twee.

The story is of the cheeky vixen Sharp-Ears, beautifully sung and vivaciously acted by Elena Tsallagova, and her constant battles with the humans living and hunting in her forest as well as all the other animals living in or near her tree.

Janacek's music treads an equally precarious line between playfulness and a serious pastoral nature.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra under the Czech conductor Jakub Hrusa mix urgency with joyous exhilaration in their reading of the music and the result is delightful.

With glorious set design by Tom Pye, which manages, among other things, to create the illusion of a steep path on a flat stage, the overall result is an excellent musical romp.

Above all, however, this was a triumph for Tsallagova, whose performance was a joy both to watch and to listen to. 

Box Office: www.glyndebourne.com or 01273 815000 (until July 31).