Autumn is in the air, most definitely.
I really hated it when I had to roll out of my lovely warm duvet. I was sure that Mr.B must have felt the same. The sky is dull grey with no depth. And the outside is drenched with a drizzly rain…

When Hubbie & I were walking towards William IV for our customary Friday night drink, he whispered in my ear ‘I have a surprise for you’. He didn’t tell me what it was all about until we slipped into a cozy table by the door…

‘We are gonna see Wagner’s Siegfried at Royal Opera House at 3pm tomorrow!’, he declared.
Wow, that’s sound great. My burger tasted even better with excitement…

Then came Saturday, we had our customary lunch at Shepherdess Cafe…

After tucking in our usual with a mug of strong tea, we got ready and headed to Covent Garden.

I love Royal Opera House. The decor is so opulent & sumptuous. And the atmosphere is very courteous & civilised…

Our seats were at the back of Stall Circle in the dead middle with a very good view.
Eventually, the time came and lights in the auditorium were dimmed gradually. Oh, I must say that I love those lights with scarlet lamp shades. They are so pretty, aren’t they? They look like a bunch of mushrooms in Disney films. Anyway, dimming the lights acted as a cue, so the excited chatters & the tunes typical of a rehearsing orchestra ceased like a receding tide. In the silence, charged with a palpable excitement, we held our breath and fixed our gaze firmly upon the stage…
Then, a man in a black suit tumbled out of the stage wing and delivered us some bad news.
Apparently, the singer who was to perform as Alberich lost his voice. Therefore, the organizer had to have another singer flown in from Germany as his understudy. However, for the replacement,  the set would be too precarious to walk without rehearsing. So the original guy without his voice would walk the part while lip-syncing. Gee… that sounds promising.

Act 1 went swimmingly. Apart from having to put up with some intermittent snores. Yes, you’ve heard me correctly. A snore. An old gentleman seated next me was falling asleep every 5 minutes and he snored. I nudged Hubbie and he rolled his eyes…

A mad scramble to Champagne Bar after Act 1…

They served coffee but no cake. Damn! Next time, I shall smuggle in some cakes, I vowed.

At the beginning of Act 2, the forewarned performance came up.
Despite with their best effort, it was not quite satisfactory. The voiceless singer and his understudy weren’t syncing too well. It was just not convincing. I felt desparetely sorry for them though.

Between Act 2 & 3, we nipped out to grab some sandwich at Pret a Manger…

I had Wiltshire-cured ham & Pret pickle sandwich followed by a chocolate brownie. We did not want to eat a big dinner since we would have to sit for another 150 minutes. A full belly, a warm seat and a soothing music, all three elements would make a perfect prescription for a sound nap in the auditorium. I wouldn’t want to fall asleep during Act 3, would I?

The rest of the performance went amazingly well and the auditorium was resonated with our euphoric cheers & hand clapping when the curtain came down…

Brünnhilde the soprano was a tad too plump for the part. Still, she had an amazing voice.
All in all, I had a fabulous Saturday day & night out. Thank you, Hubbie…