More than any other great opera, Puccini's La Fanciulla del West has a reputation for being pure hokum. First performed in New York in 1910, and set during the California gold rush, it's ostensibly a Western that romanticises the American dream. The heroine, Minnie, is a gun-toting, Bible-bashing virgin who effects the moral redemption of Johnson, a glamorous yet world-weary bandit; it's a central situation that many have found preposterous.

To do so, however, is to overlook the work's deeper resonances. The love story plays itself out against a sharply observed portrait of a migrant work force, its members living on their wits and perennially haunted by thoughts of the worlds they have left behind. One man goes to bits at the memory of home. Even Rance, the domineering yet isolated sheriff, admits he fled west because his parents didn't love him.

The dominant tone of sadness is beautifully captured in Jo Davies's new production for Opera Holland Park. The intimacy of the theatre itself precludes the more familiar "cast of thousands" approach, and Davies contents herself with a meticulously detailed depiction of a small, isolated, predominantly male community, its bravado undercut by vulnerability at every turn. The growing attraction between Elizabeth Blancke-Biggs's Minnie and Ravil Atlas's Johnson is wonderfully done. The ending, in which Rance and his men face an uncertain future is heartbreaking.

The performances are by and large terrific, though Atlas was battling with a throat infection on the first night, which explained some raw tone. Blancke-Biggs sings Minnie's music with thrilling abandon, while Sigurdarson is a truly great Rance, sexy and dangerous by turns. Ideally, the work needs a bigger orchestra than can fit in the Holland Park pit, though John Gibbons conducts with great passion. Touching, strong and one of Opera Holland Park's finest achievements to date.

· In rep until June 26. Box office: 0845 230 9769.