The Royal Opera House's production of John Browne's Babette's Feast, an "opera for children and adults", goes out of its way to transform the Linbury theatre into a place of wonder and magic. The auditorium is covered in painted wood, and the audience sits on the stage. This simple, bold set, by Tom Piper, creates the scene for Isak Dinesen's story of Babette's transformation of a closed, conservative Norwegian community.

There are some striking moments - such as the supper in the opening scene - as the two sisters, Martine and Philippa, sung by Claire Wild and Yvette Bonner, are trapped within the confines of their father's Protestant strictures. Bass Roderick Earle plays the flamboyant opera singer Achille Papin, who crashes into this hermetic world with egocentric energy, and gives Philippa an impromptu singing lesson, to some of Browne's most effective music. Soprano Alison Cook plays the mysterious Babette, and her entry in a shocking red dress is an explosion of colour in the sisters' monochrome world.

For all its charm and accessibility, Browne's score does not realise the simple wonder of the story. The feast - as Babette finally reveals her real identity to the villagers, with a miraculous meal of turtle soup and quails - should be the magical climax of the piece. But Browne's music remains resolutely earthbound, with its idiom somewhere between musical theatre and 19th-century opera, and the dramatic potential of this moment is missed by director Tim Supple. It's as if the piece is compromised by its hybrid role: it's too obscure to be really compelling for children but too simplistic for adults; strange, too, that in an opera for young people, there are no singing parts for children. Yuval Zorn conducts the eight-piece ensemble with efficient energy, but Babette's Feast is functional festive entertainment rather than a magical retelling of Dinesen's story.

· Until January 4. Box office: 020-7304 4000.