Dug the Gardner recording from mid 1980s out and listened through.  It's pretty gorgeous and made an interesting comparison to G & S, The Mikado in particular (we have to find somebody to execute, although that theme is dropped after Act 1.)

Anyone else know it and like to comment?

Please. 

(I know I did not put the accent in the title, but I have my slob-like moments.)

Any work that has numbers described as "Tickling Duet" or "Green Chatreuse Duet" must have something going for it.  At first blush it is all incredibly French tasteful and understated, but I think with familiarity I could come to realise how outrageous and beautiful it is.  Being French, it can imply unambiguously the existence of sex, unlike Gilbert, and musically it even makes G n S look crude.

On the other hand it is impossible to imagine it being done be La Societe Amateure de l'Opera de Clochermerle, which is possibly both the glory and the downside of G n S.

I was never going to get the R3OK Mrs Bountiful prize for spelling and rafia work in any case.

The tenor's first words are:  "Ouf.  Ouf Premier."

The heroine is called Laoula.  Tapioca is the secretary to the ambassador taking her to her marriage with Ouf.  The ambassador on the Gardner recording was sung by Francois le Roux, who created the role of Gawain for Birtwhistle.

Instead of the king she falls for the humble peddlar, Lazuli, despite him being played by a soprano.

Act 1 ends with the king about to execute Lazuli by impalation in a specially designed armchair.  Shades of Monty Python.  The jolly tune in which the chorus look forward to this is the main theme of the delightful overture.

Sounds marvellous- I suspected Gardnerrrer of being a bit humourless but it sounds like he warmed to this. Seems almost an antecedent to Poulenc, who didnt as far as I know choose to do explicitly comedic full-on music theatre.

I've just retrieved the EMI double play cassette - XDR quality system! - from its precarious stacking at the top of my shelves and will give it a play over the weekend.   I remember it as a most engaging piece of froth which was favourably reviewed on R3s, Saturday morning Stereo Review (Release?) in 1984.

Francois Le Roux (Herisson De Porc-Epic) followed with several recitals at the Wigmore Hall

You've really hit the nail on the head there, Don B.  It's impossible to mistake French vocal music for any other, and it must be the "lie of the language" which dictates that unique sound.  (Very much in the way that English has shaped a melodic and rhythmic world peculiar to music from the angolophone world from Henry Purcell to Jake Heggie).  I hear it not only in French opera, but also in the  melodie repertoire.  Incidentally, Chabrier has some very fine recital-songs which are lamentably rarely performed

Except maybe LES PECHEURS DES PERLES?  And LE DOCTEUR MIRACLE?  And Gounod's FAUST. Or MIREILLE, or ROMEO ET JULIETTE.  Or CLEOPATRE.  Or MANON.  Or SAMSON ET DALILA.  Or...   

Sadly this highly-developed repertoire of opera-lyrique has fallen out of fashion, in our obsession with the Italian and German operas of the C19th.   I wonder why that is?   Are we sated with these high-romantic stories and situations?  Maybe we can't cast them so easily these days?  Is the emotional reach of the music too limited for our "sophisticated" ears...  do we need an array of horns and wagner-tubas to satisfy our expectations?   I agree they're staged sometimes...  but in cases of "rare exception", rather than their previous pride-of-place in the repertoire of any opera-house worth the name.