As I write, my head is still whirring with a myriad melodies from Die Fledermaus, following Opera della Luna’s exhilarating production at the Playhouse last week.

This is partly due, of course, to the genius of Richard Strauss, but also to director Jeff Clarke’s inspired reworking of this classic operetta. I first saw this production when it came to the Cornerstone in Didcot last year and, if anything, enjoyed it even more the second time around.

Clarke has reinvented the Eisensteins as a thoroughly modern yuppy couple, with more money than morals, while Adele is their sassy, slightly lippy cleaner. Instead of going to jail, Eisenstein is facing a spell in a rehab clinic after being caught in possession of drugs, and Orlofsky’s party is a Hallowe’en bash. At the centre of it all, of course, is Dr Falke, with his extravagant plan for exacting revenge on his friend Eisenstein, after the latter left him to walk home from a party dressed as a bat.

Perhaps Clarke’s most radical move is to dispense with Frosch the Jailer, creating an excuse for Eisenstein and Frank – brilliantly played by Andy Morton and Philip Cox – to indulge in some gloriously silly nonsense as they make their drunken way to the rehab clinic, still in their party disguises, intermingling hilariously with the audience and sounding more like Inspector Clouseau than the French aristocrats they are supposed to be.

A top-notch cast ensures that things move along at a cracking pace. Helen Massey shines as a bright, impish Adele, with a tendency to mispronounce Falke’s name (making it, inevitably, sound rude!), Lisa Anne Robinson sings strongly as an Australian-accented Rosalinde, Gareth Dafydd Morris is a gloriously over-the-top Alfred, and Simon Butteriss delivers a masterful performance as a very camp Orlofsky. The seven-piece band, led by Clarke himself at the piano, plays with spirit, but could do with turning the volume down a little, as occasionally the singers’ words are lost.

This witty, lively and captivating production bears all the usual Opera della Luna hallmarks – it is cheerful, mischievous and audacious, delighting in pushing the boundaries but doing so with an irresistible humour.

The web of deceit, lust and hypocrisy that underpins the plot is brought sharply into focus, but always with a sense of fun.

If you missed it in Oxford, the production is on tour until the second week in March; visit www.operadellaluna.org for details.