English National Opera's revival of La Bohème is dedicated to the memory of Steven Pimlott, the production's original director, who died last week. Before Thursday's performance, Nicholas Hytner, at ENO's request, made a speech in tribute, remarking on the grace and courage with which Pimlott faced his illness. Grace and courage, in fact, are the qualities that also characterise La Bohème.

Carefully revived by Ian Rutherford, the staging was considered groundbreaking when it was first seen in 1993. Refusing to countenance overt sentimentality, Pimlott transposed Puccini's opera to the Paris of the late 1940s or early 50s - a period of postwar austerity and renewal, which also saw the rise of French existentialism in the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.

The four bohemians are attempting to create some sort of meaningful existence in the face of grinding squalor in a city avid for luxury in the aftermath of trauma. Few productions, before or since, have placed the emphasis quite so forcefully on the brevity of the opera's time frame - it covers a period of only five months - or pushed home the central irony of its tragedy, namely that Mimi and Rodolfo's decision to separate comes too late to save her from the illness that their life in poverty has exacerbated.

Theatrically, it's still tremendously powerful, though one wishes, in this instance, that it were musically more consistent. The conductor is the Chinese-born Xian Zhang, now primarily associated with the New York Philharmonic. She's unusually strong on urbanity, on the tumble of juxtaposed sounds with which Puccini characterises the blare and glare of a great city. The great scenes of passion, however, have a controlled, studied quality that occasionally robs them of their intimacy and force.

Vocally, the men are more persuasive than the women. Peter Auty's naive, boyish Rodolfo overdoes the sobbing in the final scene, though is completely credible elsewhere, and sings with a beautiful, easy tone and tremendous sensitivity. Mimi is the hugely popular Mary Plazas: she's touching as always, but her voice doesn't always ride Puccini's orchestra with ease. Mark Stone's virile, glamorous Marcello, meanwhile, is placed opposite the Musetta of Giselle Allen, who slides all too easily towards bump-and-grind caricature. Iain Paterson is the unusually embittered Schaunard, Matthew Rose the nerdily appealing Colline.

Ultimately, this is a good Bohème, but not a great one.

· In rep until March 30. Box office: 0870 145 0200.