Chabrier played to them early versions of the romance "O petite étoile" and the ensemble "Le pal, est de tous les supplices..." (with words by Verlaine which Leterrier and Vanloo found too bold and toned down).

[3] In New York City in 1890 at the Broadway Theatre, an English adaptation by J. Cheever Goodwin was titled The Merry Monarch, with new music by Woolson Morse.

Chabrier's music fared no better in London in 1899, where the score was rewritten by Ivan Caryll for an adaptation at the Savoy Theatre called The Lucky Star.

[5] New productions were mounted at the Opéra-Comique in October 1984 with Colette Alliot-Lugaz and Michel Sénéchal in leading roles, and in December 2007 with Jean-Luc Viala and Stéphanie d’Oustrac.

The first complete recording, by EMI in 1985, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, followed a production at the Opéra National de Lyon the previous year starring Alliot-Lugaz, which was also filmed for television by FR3 in November 1985 and broadcast in 1986.

Source: Delage[1] King Ouf 1er roams his city in disguise, searching for a suitable subject to execute as a birthday treat.

Hérisson de Porc-Epic, an ambassador, arrives with his wife Aloès, accompanied by his secretary Tapioca and Laoula, the daughter of a neighboring monarch.

Ouf, desperate to produce an heir to the throne before he dies, plans to marry Laoula, even if for an hour, but finds that he has run out of time.