Blog

And now for something completely different: Fearing the perception that opera is stuffy and traditional, The Royal Opera House in London is going virtual to engage tweeters to help create a new and improved People’s Opera, 140 characters at a time. 

According to the official ROH blog, they are investigating how the “Twitterverse” can “build upon each other to create a non-linear narrative – like a Choose Your Own Adventure story or a game of Consequences.” 

To kick things off, ROH posted the start of the story:

“One morning, very early, a man and a woman were standing, arm-in-arm, in London’s Covent Garden. The man turned to the woman and he sang…”

Visitors were then asked to tweet their line of the story to @youropera or to visit http://www.twitter.com/youropera .

If you want to check out the progression line by line, act by act, check out the Royal Opera House Blog Channel.

Alison Duthie, head of this program, was interviewed by AdAge.com, where he said,  “It’s the people’s opera and the perfect way for everyone to become involved with the inventiveness of opera as the ultimate art of storytelling.”

The opera debuts at a festival Sept. 4-6.

Meanwhile, critics are probably sharpening their mighty pens right now to weigh in on this new form of virtual operatic development.

As Maria Callas, one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century, said, “An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down.” 

No doubt, such will be the case with the People’s Opera in the Twitterverse as well.