There’s a lot of darkness in Mozart’s great comedy “Le Nozze di Figaro” : class conflict, sexual power games, adultery, humiliation, revenge. So it made sense when, in 2014 , the Metropolitan Opera replaced Jonathan Miller’s airy, putty-colored production of the work with Richard Eyre’s literally darker version.

Mr. Eyre’s staging reset the opera in 1930s Spain and located it in a mansion of ominously looming cylindrical rooms, constructed of heavy Moorish woodwork. Here, you thought at first glance, was a take on “Figaro” that would emphasize the oppression of the feudal system that burdens its characters and motivates their anxious farce.

But it quickly became clear — both when it was new and when an amiable revival opened on Saturday afternoon — that Mr. Eyre’s take was pretty toothless. This is the same old “Figaro,” perhaps even milder than usual, just with those overbearing sets and wanly slinky costumes, inspired by the chic black-and-white photographs of Jacques-Henri Lartigue .