When three years ago, Mannheim  opera produced a real mash-up of Gretry’s slight tale of Beauty and the Beast with Disney dwarfs, a Sugar Puff monster and a footballer hero, I thought I would never see a production to do the piece justice. Opera

Bampton Opera and director Jeremy Gray have put that right, with a charming show elevated by two outstanding performers in the title roles, Ffion Edwards as Zemira and Gwilym Bowen as Azor, the prince turned monster.

Zemira’s merchant father Sandro (Samuel Pantcheff) with his servant Ali (Andrew Irwin) is marooned in the Gulf of Hormuz (yes that one), held captive by Azor, but allowed to return home to his three daughters Zemira, Fatima (Sian Dicker) and Lesbia (Rachel Roper) if one of them returns as his hostage.

The music, much of it later additions for the original Italian language performance in 1776, also in Mannheim, has a Mozartian feel, albeit without the sophistication that the greater composer’s symphonic experience brought to the orchestration.

Highlights include a highly interactive quartet for Sandro’s family and an off-stage obbligato for horn and flute that complements the final scene, but best of all are the showpiece arias for the principals. Bowen raises the show to a nerve-tingling level with his first entrance, "Beware my furious rage", menace combined with smooth, long legato lines, and a trilling Edwards handles the virtuoso songbird air with great delicacy and poise.

It is not a story of great depth—its appeal at the time largely a result of its magical effects—yet by their mutual reticence, in the scene where suspicion turns gradually to love, the couple achieve a real sense of pathos.

Irwin plays up Ali’s timidity—a model perhaps for Mozart’s Papageno, Pantcheff projects boldly the figure of the merchant, Dicker invests considerable feeling into her act two lament, and Roper sounds ravishing in one of many additions to the score in 1776 from the works of Niccolo Jommelli, the only shortcoming of which is its brevity.

The stage is split in two with Azor’s Persian palace on one side and Sandro’s simple home on the other, and video screens effectively portray the magical connection between the two. Placing the orchestra between them gives it rather undue prominence, but conductor Andrew Griffiths was keenly responsive to the singers and only once did the sound slightly lap over the soloist.

Tribute is due also to Pauline Smith and Anne Baldwin for their character-enhancing costume designs, Ali in cowardly yellow, Zemira resembling Little Red Riding Hood setting out to meet the wolf and Azor best of all, somewhere between cruel and cuddly, like a tabby cat with great claws and ram’s horns. Spot on.

Gretry is a composer who has not reached the same heights of popularity of many of his contemporaries of the mid to late eighteenth century. It is thus fantastic that Oxfordshire is home to Bampton Classical Opera – a company dedicated to reviving lesser known works by musicians of this period.

Zemira e Azor is, essentially, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. A father, Sandro, stumbles across an enchanted palace. This angers the owner, Azor, a hideous monster of a man, who threatens Sandro's life unless he is willing to send one of his daughters in his place. The father is horrified at such a prospect but accepts the bargain as a way of ensuring his escape. His youngest daughter, Zemira, discovers the details of the deal and runs off to the palace determined to save her father.

She meets Azor and an unexpected bond is formed and after the traditional obstacles are overcome, the curse turning Azor into a Beast is lifted and they all live happily ever after.

Musically, there is absolutely much to admire. It is a a lyrical and beautifully orchestrated opera-comique with many gorgeous moments shared between the singers and members of the chamber ensemble.

Andrew Griffiths conducts with the right balance of flair and precision necessary for music of this period. He shapes everything with care and allows both musicians and singers space to shine.

There is not a weak link in the cast. In the title roles, Ffion Edwards and Gwilym Bowen showcase their voices to perfection, handling the challenging demands of the score with apparent ease. Samuel Pantcheff (Sandro) has a rich, warm sound that is right for the part, which has one of the largest ranges of any baritone role in the repertoire.

Andrew Irwin uses his bright, characterful tenor to deliver much humour and personality to the role of the servant, Ali. And the cast is rounded out by the two other sisters. Lesbia (Rachel Roper) and Fatima (Sian Dicker) who blend their voices perfectly in what are, sadly, underwritten and underused roles.

This is music making of the highest order and whilst the material is not hugely memorable, it is a delight to hear performed so well.

For all the beauty and elegance of the score, it is a opera with many issues in terms of the plot and the drama. It is lacking in drama and tension with key moments, like the departure of Zemira, not even shown on stage only reported by other characters. It is not uncommon for operas to lacking dramaturgically speaking but, that said, the beauty of the music does mask some of these shortcomings.

The venue, Cokethorpe School, has many virtues – it is a lovely environment with more than adequate parking and plenty of space in which to enjoy a summer evening. The auditorium is not ideal for a theatrical presentation. Because it lacks a proper stage, the orchestra is on the same level as the singers and thus sight lines are badly compromised meaning that large parts of the action are obscured to significant sections of the audience. The staging is inventive with good use of technology to move things along. But the fact that the whole audience could not see all of the action is to be regretted.

All in all, there is absolutely much to enjoy. Bampton Classical Opera is a gem that should be cherished for doing what it does so well.