Scandalous in its day, banned for years, sharply satirical and perfumed with more than a whiff of scandal, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel is an unexpected and startling delight to find in the fancy back-quad location of St John’s auditorium. The garrote-thin story follows an idiot Tsar and his idiot followers and foolish family as they bumble into a disastrous war, exuberantly lose a kingdom, enthusiastically betray their people and are eventually bullied to death by a magic cockerel.

But the plot is mostly an excuse to shimmy between dazzling vocal gymnastics, dizzying flights of fancy, satirical sharpness and show-stopping tunes. Even if you don’t know the opera, you’ll know some tunes, as no matter how people try to ban it, this kind of music gets around.

Chris Murphy is hilarious as the half-dressed incompetent bumbling Tsar, Holly Brown a scream as the scheming, shimmying Tsaritsa of Shemakha, Antonida Kocharova a crowing glory as the Golden Cockerel, resplendent in gold and pink. The words are inventively and exquisitely surtitled.

In the orchestra Aoife Mirales on harp and Oli Cavadino on flute are particular standouts in a forest of deliciously cocky virtuosity. The Astrologer, played with exquisite voice by Javier Gonzalez, cuts a fine figure in very fancy robes. In the smaller roles Aastha Mohapatra impresses as Afrona and Olivia Carstairs is a scream as dodgy doxie Amelfa.

Orchestra Vox (previously Oxford Alternative Orchestra) are known for inventive staging and fearless vocals, and this may be their most complicated and challenging piece yet. While it is fighting battles of over a century ago, the struggle still feels present, tragic and problematic; and as the Astrologer and the Tsaritsa shoulder army packs and head offstage, their dark passing shot communicates the absurdity and unreality of entertainment in the face of war, disaster and death.