Semele begins with a royal wedding. In John La Bouchardière's new production for Scottish Opera it is a subfusc affair, with the guests and protagonists all dressed in concert-giving garb and singing from scores - even the Guildhall in Windsor would be glitzier. Throughout the first act the staging continues to play with this concert-giving context, parallelling the piece's genre-crossing origins - Handel called it a dramatic entertainment, "after the manner of an oratorio" - yet without coming up with any insightful ideas or images.

That goes out of the window for the second act, though, when postmodern Handel chic (set designs by Giuseppe di Iorio, costumes Magali Gerberon) takes over, and the production runs through a lexicon of directorial cliches: bits of furniture and extravagantly baroque frocks are flown in, with an oversize futon playing a significant part; there are some meaningless video projections, a spotlight is shone out into the audience and, most desperate of all, an aerial artist (Isabelle Woywode) is summoned to slink her way down a rope.

There is little point to any of it, still less any moments of real humour, and only some of the singing saves the show (Scottish Opera's last new venture at the Theatre Royal before the company's enforced sabbatical) from total nullity. The choral singing and orchestral playing under Christian Curnyn just about pass muster - there's a robust energy about both, though less refinement - and few weak links among the cast. Kate Royal's Iris is cogently projected, as is Jeremy Ovenden's Jupiter, but it is Lisa Milne's Semele and Susan Bickley as Ino and Juno that lift the spirits. Milne is stylish, attentive to the words and throws off her final coloratura aria with aplomb, while Bickley is wonderfully assured; what humour there is comes mostly from her, and as Juno she does get to wear a striking dress of peacock feathers. In the circumstances that is a real treat.

· In rep until March 4. Box office: 0141-332 9000. Then at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh (0131-529 6000), from March 17.