L'Amico Fritz is something of a problem piece. Mascagni wrote it in 1891 in an attempt to avoid being stereotyped as a violent realist after the success of Cavalleria Rusticana the previous year. Yet in so doing, he produced a work that can be dismissed as slight. An exercise in pastoral, the opera is set in pre-Franco-Prussian war Alsace, where Protestant and Jewish communities coexist in gentle harmony, and where bachelor landowner Fritz, with a bit of help from David, the local rabbi, gradually falls in love with Suzel, the daughter of one of his tenants. The libretto has been criticised as weak, while the score steers clear of grand gestures. There are, however, a couple of sexy duets for Suzel and Fritz, and some tangy thematic writing suggestive of traditional Jewish melodies.

Annilese Miskimmon's production for Opera Holland Park relocates it to the US and reimagines it as a 1950s, Rock Hudson and Doris Day-style romcom. Fritz (Eric Margiore) is an eligible New York property tycoon-cum-philanthropist, keen on mod cons and Mondrian, and adored by the swooning women in his typing pool. Anna Leese's Suzel, meanwhile, manages the showhouse on one of his estates, where David (David Stephenson) prowls round the garden, carefully engineering meetings between them. It all has bags of charm without ever descending to archness, and it's quite wonderfully sung: Margiore and Leese soar through their scenes with ravishing finesse, while Stephenson, exuding chutzpah, is funny and tender by turns. It's no masterpiece, but it's tremendous fun.