Basil Twist in Paris: When Puppets Meet Baroque Opera Before his directorial debut in France, with Mondonville’s “Titon et l’Aurore” at the Opéra Comique, the virtuoso puppeteer discussed the challenges of working in a pandemic. Basil Twist at the Opéra Comique in Paris on Jan.16. “It’s just totally incredible that we’re putting on an opera here,” he said.Credit...Elliott Verdier for The New York Times Jan. 19, 2021 PARIS — Where can American artists direct opera at the moment? For the puppetry prodigy Basil Twist, the answer was France. At the Opéra Comique in Paris, Twist has been busy readying a new staging of Jean-Joseph de Mondonville’s “Titon et l’Aurore,” an 18th-century Baroque opera. Although the French government’s current pandemic guidelines have forced all theaters to close to audiences, “Titon et l’Aurore” is set to have a virtual premiere on Tuesday on the streaming platform Medici TV, and will be free to watch for three months.