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Carlos Acosta has danced Colas before, in the Royal Ballet's season at the Festival Hall whilst the Opera House was closed, and since then he's become a much better actor without losing any of his virtuosity. His Colas is so amiable, open and generous that it's no wonder Lise adores him, but I think he'd be even more convincing if he'd just turn the volume down a bit - maybe at later performances he'll relax into the role and not feel he has to try quite so hard. The choreography was made for David Blair, a spectacular turner, and just occasionally you can see that even the extravagantly gifted Acosta is having to pull out all the stops to stay on top of it - which to my eyes makes it all the more exciting. He kept a cool head, too, when some of the business with the ribbons looked as if was heading for disaster.

When someone asked me a few months ago which Lise I would choose to see out of this season's casts, I said 'Nunez, because I've absolutely no idea what she'll do with the role'. It wouldn't at all have surprised me to see her go down the 'tomboy' line, but in fact she was much gentler, and much more touching, than that. Her dancing is a delight - light, delicate but strong: in the 'picnic' pas de deux she flew round the stage with a joyous ease which took me back to Nadia Nerina's early days. In the last scene, where acting is more important than technique, she showed that she could melt from feistiness to love-sick rapture; the big mime scene was charmingly done, and the tenderness of the last pas de deux was pitched just right. A lovely debut, in all - I'd rank this together with last year's Nikiya as the finest things I've seen her do.

Jonathan Howells' Alain was one of the big hits of the Festival Hall series of performances. He'd been coached then by Alexander Grant, the role's creator, and he's worked more with him for this run. There are a few minor changes, but it's basically the same fine interpretation - the dancing done properly, and the pathos and the humour well balanced. Widow Simone has become the problem role these days, and I don't think William Tuckett has quite solved it yet. He's working too hard: not every moment needs to have a new funny expression or a new gag - he has some brilliant ideas and lots of what he does is very clever, but it's a bit unremitting and less might be a lot more effective.

Alexander Grant has restaged the ballet for this run and the company looks as if they need another couple of performances to settle into it, but the feel of the evening was right and the expressions and comments of the audience at the end said that Ashton's magic had worked again.