Birmingham Royal Ballet, Hippodrome, Birmingham

An expansive impression of Edwardian Salford

David Bintley's policy of frequent new productions for Birmingham Royal Ballet shows one of its values this year when the usual premieres were prevented by costs arising from the Hippodrome's longer than expected closure for rebuilding. Thanks to constructing a strong backlist, two popular big works – both exclusive to the company and not seen for some time – are available for the summer season. After warmly received revivals in the refurbished Hippodrome, both now go on tour, including (thanks to an overdue reform of Arts Council policies) the first visit for years to Scotland.

Hobson's Choice is not only one of the most enjoyable ballets created in recent years, but also perhaps the most successful collaboration too, since choreographer, composer and designer are equally matched, and all measure up to give their starting point, the play by Harold Brighouse (a hit for 90 years now), a new lease of life. Bintley has retold the story in terms of exceptionally lively dance, expressive and comic, often surprising, always resourceful, sometimes touching. The ballet is full of distinctive characters, from the drunken shoemaker Hobson through his three contrasted daughters and their even more varied admirers right down to what could in other hands have been the peripheral figures of a Salvation Army band.

Paul Reade's music supports every moment to perfection, from its clog dances to its music-hall tunes, its eccentric character numbers to its show-off solos, and the wonderfully balanced mix of romance and farce in Maggie Hobson's courting of the boot hand Will Mossop. You don't only come out singing but probably want to hum along with the action. As designer, Hayden Griffin gives every role an individual look, and provides a convincing and remarkably expansive impression of life in Edwardian Salford.

Michael O'Hare is giving his final performances in the role made for him as Mossop, as idiosyncratically right as ever in its quick-changing moods. He is the last survivor of the original cast, but there are some fine take-overs in other roles, notably Robert Parker's exuberant account of the amorous Fred Beenstock, and David Morse in a nicely morose portrait of Hobson.

With a number of other principals having moved on to a new stage in their careers, I caught two recent recruits taking over leading parts when I saw the season's other major revival, Carmina Burana, at a midweek matinée. Both were excellent. Michael Kopinski, a youngster from the corps de ballet, proved satisfyingly apt as the naïve boy in the Spring sequence.

The more experienced Michael Revie has transferred as a principal from the Zurich Ballet; his brilliant dancing as Mozart with them at Sadler's Wells was a triumph last year, and now he proves terrific in the "Boiling Rage" solos of the tavern sequence in Carmina.

This is another of Bintley's successful treatments of a familiar subject. Carl Orff's popular music benefits from the ingenious staging, and the bold designs are by Philip Prowse. As in Hobson, the company shows itself maintaining form while awaiting a promised new American-themed programme in the autumn.

JOHN PERCIVAL

'Hobson's Choice' is at The Lowry, Salford, 12-15 June, and Theatre Royal, Plymouth, 18-22 June. 'Carmina Burana' at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 26-29 June.