A Twittery Idea Whose Time Has Come

The #operaplot contest which ends midnight (EDT) tonight, and which was conceived, organized, and executed by Miss Mussel of The Omniscient Mussel wherein one must summarize an entire opera plot in the 140 alpha-numeric characters permitted by a Twitter tweet, has been phenomenally (and we use the term advisedly) successful. Miss Mussel secured the services of opera singer Danielle De Niese to act as judge, and the participation of some 20 opera companies to offer tickets as prizes for the winners. As of last count, there have been close to 500 #operaplot entries among which are four by us. We tried to be a good sport about it, and opened a Twitter account expressly for the purpose of making our entries, but Twitter turned out to be such a PITA to use that we deleted our account, and posted our four entries to Miss Mussel's #Operaplot Non-Twitter Entry Form instead.

Is the whole #operaplot contest idea really silly? We thought so at first, but the totally unexpected (by us) widespread and laudatory interest it's generated in the cyber world, an interest that's extended even to the MSM, caused us to change our mind as it can only be a good thing for classical music generally and for opera in particular; ergo, our participation.

Herewith, our four #operaplot entries:

1: #operaplot: Three flirts, a lovesick dwarf, two big dummies & a double-dealing control freak learn it's not nice to fool with Mother Nature.

2: #operaplot: Notorious rake kills old guy, then laughingly invites old guy's ghost to dinner. Bad idea. Ghost accepts. Rake gets burned.

3: #operaplot: Young simpleton shoots swan. Old windbag appalled. Half-crazed woman enlightens Simpleton. Simpleton declared redeemer and king.

4: #operaplot: Evil queen sends flute-playing prince on bogus mission. Prince toots on flute, wins princess, foils queen. Queen left bereft.

Our warm congratulations to Miss Mussel on the astonishing success of her imaginative venture, and our advance congratulations to the contest's eventual winners.