A Split Week
Jan. 2nd, 2005 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrdreamjeansThe most unusual week of the entire “Evita” tour has ended. We started the week in Schenectady, New York, arriving there from various sites around the country the day after Christmas. We experienced cold and snow and three days in a city struggling to maintain its rich history, a history distinguished by the founding of General Electric. We played to full houses on Monday and Tuesday night, but it was obvious that lay-offs by the multi-international corporation have left the town seeking a new identity other than as the “Electric City”.
Sarasota lies on the west coast of Florida and is a retirement haven, as is so much of Florida. We had mostly sunny, warm weather with highs in the upper 70s, 70 degrees higher than the low temperatures in Schenectady. The show was very successful with a sell-out on New Years Eve and three-quarter houses on Saturday and Sunday, very good indeed for a holiday weekend with four performances.
There are pockets of charm in the downtown area with its low old-style Spanish architecture, but there is construction everywhere, mostly high-rise condos that are spoiling the skyline. St Armand’s Key, the shops on St Armands Circle and the Lido beaches are wonderful, touristy sites, but you definitely need a car here. Several cast members took a taxi to the beach, a distance of about seven miles; the cab fare to and fro was about $40!
Our hotel, a Wellesley Inn and Suites, was substandard. The rooms were not clean; I changed rooms five times the first night due to maintenance and security problems. When I walk around my room, the soles of my socks are black and there are cigarette burns in the carpet. Mold and mildew is obvious in the rooms; several of us have had sniffles, allergies and worse since arriving. We had several people out of the show this week with the flu, which as you can imagine, runs through a company very quickly. At one time or another, all three leads were out. One of our guys has a staff infection on his chest which is dangerous, so he missed half the shows this week. Another actor’s flu is so bad, he missed four of five shows here. I’m looking forward to traveling on the plane with our sick folk. Not:)! I’ve been all stopped up and sniffly myself, but am convinced most of my problems will disappear once I’m out of here.
The area around the hotel is quite mixed in terms of the “haves” and “have-nots”. I look out on the local Yacht Club, there are several exclusive complexes and gated communities on our road; the Ringling Art Museum is close by; indeed Sarasota is where many circus performers winter or have retired. Interestingly my dresser here, Alida, is a seventh generation member of The Flying Wallendas. She gave me her business card as we said goodbye tonight:)
As nice as parts of town are, the area around are hotel on Tamiami Road is inundated with hookers and drug dealers. Right next to a classy Italian Restaurant is a Subway Shop. The Subway is a gathering place for drug dealers. They use the parking lot, which abuts the hotel's, for their business. Otherwise, why would young guys with a lot of bling and multiple cell phones be hanging out.
I saw several women and men walking the mile between the Wellesley and the closest grocery store. In fact, several of our girls and guys were propositioned just walking to the store. I rented a car and tried to give as many people a ride as possible back and forth from necessary errands. Walking was certainly dangerous for our women, with johns so bold as to follow them right into the hotel.
Our crew organized a New Years Eve party for us at the pool after our late show on the 31st. Oddly, the cast was not invited to the theater’s New Years Eve gala, but I preferred spending the countdown till midnight around the pool with my touring family anyway, to a dress up affair with aged strangers.
I enjoyed the beautiful sunsets, so unexpected in late December and early January, but I’m ready for a bit more winter. We head to Greenville, SC tomorrow, a tricky travel day with an hour bus ride to Tampa, a change of planes in Atlanta with only a 38 minute layover (we may make it, but a transfer of luggage for 60 people?) and then on to the mountains of South Carolina. It’s supposed to be mild and rainy all week. We’ll see...
The oddest week of the tour is over and out. The split week is complete. The split of obvious wealth and struggling poor, apparent. The week of haves and have-nots is done. Now it's time for this troup of gypsies to split!
Sarasota lies on the west coast of Florida and is a retirement haven, as is so much of Florida. We had mostly sunny, warm weather with highs in the upper 70s, 70 degrees higher than the low temperatures in Schenectady. The show was very successful with a sell-out on New Years Eve and three-quarter houses on Saturday and Sunday, very good indeed for a holiday weekend with four performances.
There are pockets of charm in the downtown area with its low old-style Spanish architecture, but there is construction everywhere, mostly high-rise condos that are spoiling the skyline. St Armand’s Key, the shops on St Armands Circle and the Lido beaches are wonderful, touristy sites, but you definitely need a car here. Several cast members took a taxi to the beach, a distance of about seven miles; the cab fare to and fro was about $40!
Our hotel, a Wellesley Inn and Suites, was substandard. The rooms were not clean; I changed rooms five times the first night due to maintenance and security problems. When I walk around my room, the soles of my socks are black and there are cigarette burns in the carpet. Mold and mildew is obvious in the rooms; several of us have had sniffles, allergies and worse since arriving. We had several people out of the show this week with the flu, which as you can imagine, runs through a company very quickly. At one time or another, all three leads were out. One of our guys has a staff infection on his chest which is dangerous, so he missed half the shows this week. Another actor’s flu is so bad, he missed four of five shows here. I’m looking forward to traveling on the plane with our sick folk. Not:)! I’ve been all stopped up and sniffly myself, but am convinced most of my problems will disappear once I’m out of here.
The area around the hotel is quite mixed in terms of the “haves” and “have-nots”. I look out on the local Yacht Club, there are several exclusive complexes and gated communities on our road; the Ringling Art Museum is close by; indeed Sarasota is where many circus performers winter or have retired. Interestingly my dresser here, Alida, is a seventh generation member of The Flying Wallendas. She gave me her business card as we said goodbye tonight:)
As nice as parts of town are, the area around are hotel on Tamiami Road is inundated with hookers and drug dealers. Right next to a classy Italian Restaurant is a Subway Shop. The Subway is a gathering place for drug dealers. They use the parking lot, which abuts the hotel's, for their business. Otherwise, why would young guys with a lot of bling and multiple cell phones be hanging out.
I saw several women and men walking the mile between the Wellesley and the closest grocery store. In fact, several of our girls and guys were propositioned just walking to the store. I rented a car and tried to give as many people a ride as possible back and forth from necessary errands. Walking was certainly dangerous for our women, with johns so bold as to follow them right into the hotel.
Our crew organized a New Years Eve party for us at the pool after our late show on the 31st. Oddly, the cast was not invited to the theater’s New Years Eve gala, but I preferred spending the countdown till midnight around the pool with my touring family anyway, to a dress up affair with aged strangers.
I enjoyed the beautiful sunsets, so unexpected in late December and early January, but I’m ready for a bit more winter. We head to Greenville, SC tomorrow, a tricky travel day with an hour bus ride to Tampa, a change of planes in Atlanta with only a 38 minute layover (we may make it, but a transfer of luggage for 60 people?) and then on to the mountains of South Carolina. It’s supposed to be mild and rainy all week. We’ll see...
The oddest week of the tour is over and out. The split week is complete. The split of obvious wealth and struggling poor, apparent. The week of haves and have-nots is done. Now it's time for this troup of gypsies to split!
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}