Continuing its mission to present classic operas, including those that aren’t top of mind, Melbourne Opera dusts off a 19th century French work not performed in this city since the 1980s.

Led by Australian singers Deborah Humble and Rosario La Spina, who is in particularly fine form, this new production of Samson et Dalila is directed by company stalwart Suzanne Chaundy.

She respects tradition, including by retaining two ballet sequences considered de rigueur by Parisians of yore, but often partially or entirely cut these days. However, Chaundy also refreshes Camille Saint-Saëns’s Old Testament tale with sophisticated minimalist design.

Melbourne Opera’s Samson et Dalila. Photo © Robin Halls

Premiering in Weimar in 1877, this opera tells of Samson, who is divinely blessed with superhuman strength, and femme fatale Delilah – or Dalila in French.

He leads the enslaved Hebrews in a rebellion against the Philistines, whose high priest urges Dalila to seduce Samson and discover the secret of his power. After she succeeds, the weakened prisoner calls on the Hebrew god to restore his strength and destroy the Philistine temple.

I had not seen La Spina perform since the early 2000s, when he regularly...