Mobile technology has changed my life, and mostly for the
better: I can sip rather than slurp my morning coffee because I can use my bus
countdown app to see when the 341 is approaching Aden Grove. I can book an
indoor tennis court a week in advance (providing my click is faster than dozens
of others vying for the same slot). I can send postcards where I get to choose
the picture (from my phone’s camera). And now . . .
The Royal Opera House has a new app: you can pre-order your
interval champers with just a few clicks. Just download the free app! Which I
did, after spotting the advert while in the ROH waiting for Il Trittico to
begin. In less than five minutes I had ROH Bars on my phone and ordered our
first interval Runiart for 20% off, totalling £21.60. Brilliant!
First hurdle: where to find the pre-ordered bubbly at the interval?
The ROH has a lovely bar that is just captivating to look at and rather vast and
crowded during the interval. Tim and I wandered over to where the usual
pre-ordered drinks were placed, but didn’t see our name. Tim flagged down a
harried waitperson who asked if we ordered “on the app” and then directed us to
another corner. Lo and behold, two glasses of champagne under our name sat on a
shelf where a few others were sipping their own bubbles. Tim did remark how
anyone could have picked up ours . . . but this is the Royal Opera House, where
we’re all too sophisticated to nick someone else’s booze!
Il
Trittico is a Puccini creation of three one-act operas, each about an hour
with a 25-minute interval in between them, all of which I would highly
recommend. The first two are rather dark, and the finale, Gianni Schicchi, a
bit of dark comedy. This is also the
opera that has one of the more famous arias (even if you’re not a huge opera
fan): O
mio babbino caro, sung lovingly by Susanna Hurrell, a Londoner, in our
performance. Some of the actors appear in two of the performances, though I
didn’t see any of the cast appearing in all three.
Have you figured out the dilemma yet?
Two intervals. Only ONE bar order available.
Clearly the ROH hasn’t figured it out either!
