How many ways are there to do The Magic Flute? Well, perhaps it would be exaggerating to say that there are an infinite number, but there are certainly many ways of staging Mozart's last major opera. Tom Boyd, of Bel Canto Opera, for instance, described Flute in an Oxford Times interview like this: "I think it's the first musical comedy . . . I don't buy all that Masonic stuff at all."

In his new production for Grange Park, Stephen Medcalf takes a more serious view. Even before conductor Richard Balcombe has completed the overture, there is an ominous crash of thunder, which causes the newly installed auditorium chandeliers to flicker alarmingly. It's quite a relief when the three colourful and exuberant ladies (Rebecca von Lipinski, Flora McIntosh, and Margaret Rapacioli, pictured) turn up, looking as if they might be off-duty chorus singers from the Opéra-Comique. As for references to freemasonry, Medcalf has the brotherhood dressed in white hooded cloaks, looking somewhat like the Ku Klux Klan. As the storm passes, the light gradually increases, revealing that designer Francis O'Connor has atmospherically set the production in a derelict room within Grange Park itself - the operas are staged in the former orangery of a magnificent early-19th century mansion, much of which has long stood empty and ruined.

Musically, the star performance of the evening comes from Elizabeth Atherton as Pamina. The haunting aria she sings when Tamino refuses to speak to her is particularly moving. Papageno (David Stout, pictured), meanwhile, comes over as a bellicose, jobsworth gamekeeper, with little sense of humour. But fair's fair, he does warm touchingly to Papagena (Teuta Koco) well before he discovers that she isn't really an old hag. Elsewhere on opening night, Tamino (Adrian Dwyer), Monostatos (Richard Coxon), and Sarastro (Jeremy White) seemed to be concentrating on getting the notes right, with full development of character yet to come.

Altogether, this chilly Flute left me feeling uninvolved. I could certainly have done with more humour. But I suspect that it is very much a work in progress, and things could yet warm up.

There are further performances tonight, and on June 15, 21, 23, 27 and 29. Box office: 01962 86 88 88.