The box office doesn't lie, but it's hard to fathom why La Traviata is still so popular. It has become the classic operatic weepy, despite there being more abundant good tunes and more moving drama elsewhere in Verdi's output. And its plot hinges on the all-importance of a set of social mores that today can seem distant. It's a rare performance that can make us understand not only why Violetta is doomed, but also why she accepts it.

Previous revivals of Richard Eyre's 1994 production might have managed it. If this one, prepared once again by Patrick Young, doesn't quite, it's because none of the relationships between the three main characters - the reformed courtesan, her lover and his father - is drawn with as much complexity as it could be.

Violetta is the French soprano Norah Amsellem. In her first-act showpiece aria, her vocal athleticism compensates for the odd imprecise high note. However, the main weapon in her musical arsenal is a gossamer pianissimo, tiny yet intense. This serves her well in her hushed decision to leave Alfredo and in her despairing last-act aria. But when she veils her tone she also veils her words, and this doesn't help a characterisation that, after the upbeat first act, offers few reminders of Violetta's independent spirit.

Her Alfredo is sleek, dapper Charles Castronovo, who bears more than a passing resemblance to the young Verdi and sings with a nicely rounded, supple tenor just big enough for the theatre. Best of all vocally is Gerald Finley, singing Germont for the first time and making his misguided cruelty sound mellifluous, though his dramatic presence registers unusually low for this singer.

Maurizio Benini conducts carefully, his attention to balance and detail paying off in vivid support for the drama's pivotal moments. Bob Crowley's designs - especially the sumptuous trompe l'oeil set for Flora's party - look good in Jean Kalman's warm lighting. But still, those tears dry up as soon as the house lights go on.

· In rep until February 19. Box office: 020-7304 4000.