CARMEN JONES - TNT

Bizet's rousing music just about overcomes some questionable staging decisions in Jude Kelly's revival of Oscar Hammerstein's perennially popular 'folk opera', here relocated to South America and with an entirely black cast. The recently refurbished Royal Festival Hall was custom built for concerts rather than musicals, and plonking the sizeable orchestra in the middle of the acting area does the production no favours. Acoustics and amplification are somewhat variable, too. That said, and although her accent is all over the place, Soweto-born Tsakane Valentine Maswanganyi, skimpily clad in a provocative red dress (and minus her matching knickers when she makes her entrance) makes a slinkily sexy Carmen, the factory girl who sets her cap at good guy G.I. Joe – until, that is, something more exciting comes along in the shape of a prize fighter. But, in an evening in which, overall, voices are far stronger than acting ability, it's Sherry Boone's Cindy Lou (Joe's loyal, forsaken sweetheart) who steals the show. When she sings, you can really feel the pain of her broken heart as, with tragic consequences, she loses her man to the capricious femme fatale.
Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre, Belvedere Road , SE1 (0871-663 2584). Until September 2. £14-£49