SNEGUROCHKA (The Snow Maiden) is the best known of Rimsky-Korsakov’s so-called "epic" operas, where dramatic tension is sacrificed to a series of tableaux. She is a familiar figure in Russian folklore, especially at Christmas time, but to Western minds the slow build-up of this work may seem laboured.

Nevertheless, it is worth hanging in there. The fairy-tale heroine gradually develops a yearning for love, until her icy heart melts away under the cajoling of Mizgir, a visiting – and very human – trader. When she dies, he commits suicide. But they are not to be long mourned, the local tsar reminds us: spring and all its joys can only enter with her death. Cue rejoicing.

The bare bones of Alexander Ostrovsky’s play, here newly translated into non-rhyming couplets by Alasdair Middleton, stretch out over a prologue and four acts, all but three hours. John Fulljames’s new production, the first by a professional company in this country for 60 years, attempts to unify the human and supernatural elements by setting it all in a wedding-dress factory. So Giles Cadle’s more or less permanent set is all very down-to-earth.

It is left to Christina Cunningham’s mainly ethnic costumes and Will Duke’s intriguing video designs, cleverly projected round the proscenium, to conjure some rustic ambience for the tsar’s court.

Daisy Brown stepped gallantly into the title role at short notice and won many admirers, besides Mizgir. Her light soprano suits the early coloratura, and her dying aria is poignant, overcoming the wearing of a yellow tabard more apt for coffee-grinding. Phillip Rhodes is her robust Mizgir, his music injecting oriental, "outsider" flavours.

The longueurs of the prologue were alleviated by the Snow Maiden’s parents, Spring Beauty and Father Frost (the Russian equivalent of Santa), played with gusto by Yvonne Howard and James Cresswell. Howard was also moving in her aged reappearance towards the close: she is always a reassuring presence on our stages.

Heather Lowe in the trouser role of the local Lothario, Lel, was tirelessly nimble, pleasingly reactive, and Elin Pritchard was never less than earthy as his buxom wench, Kupava. Ivan Sharpe, another late replacement, made a nicely youthful tsar, primus inter pares, and his tenor warmed to the task.

Leo McFall needed to generate more momentum in his orchestra in the first half. After the interval, with folk styles predominating, he picked things up. The chorus did well with what relative scraps they were given. In the end, it was Rimsky’s colourful score that made it all worthwhile.

Opera North in The Snow Maiden, Leeds Grand Theatre; further performances on February 3, 17 and 24, then on tour. Box office: 0844 848 2720 or at operanorth.co.uk