About the work
Le roi Carotte is an opéra bouffe-féerie by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Victorien Sardou drawing on E. T. A. Hoffmann's tales Little Zaches, called Cinnabar and The Royal Bride. It premiered on 15 January 1872 at the Théâtre de la Gaîté in Paris.
Plot
A vengeful witch turns a carrot into King Carotte and topples a bumbling prince from his throne. Fleeing into exile, the prince lives through fantastical adventures in ancient Pompeii and in the realms of insects and apes, until popular discontent with Carotte's rule brings his reign down and the prince regains his throne.
Cultural significance
With lavish staging, an insect ballet and a specially composed sneezing coloratura number, the piece became one of the Gaîté's biggest box-office successes despite its costs, and launched the career of the operetta singer Anna Judic. After decades of neglect, a 2015 production by the Opéra de Lyon under Laurent Pelly brought it a widely noted rediscovery and won the International Opera Award in that category in 2016.