Tootsie on Tour: Tampa, FL
**Disclaimer: The content of this post reflects my own personal views, opinions, and experiences.
This post does NOT express the views or opinions of my employer.**
Note:
Due to an ongoing family emergency, there are times where I may post less regularly or with less content.
Thank you for your understanding.
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The venue: Straz Center for the Performing Arts
(stock photos)
Covid Tests to Date: 13
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TL;DR: an abbreviated version of this post via TikTok, I know people are opposed to reading so here ya go.
TikTok by @tromboneontour
For those who read:
We all woke up early for our flight to Tampa.
While getting to the airport was easy, we hit a few small snafus along the way.
Travel troubles are inevitable and should be expected, especially when traveling with a big group like ours. Our second flight was delayed. Then upon arrival in Tampa it was raining (welcome to Florida y'all!) and we had to wait a bit for the rain to die down so we and our luggage wouldn't be soaked. Finally, the hotel was not ready for us when we arrived, so there was a bit of a campout in the lobby as the rooms got sorted.
These are all really minor snags, everything worked out just fine in the end. I'm mentioning them not to complain, but to illustrate that traveling to a new city and a new hotel every week is not always the romantic, carefree adventure that people envision. Stuff happens!
Also, it's the bumps in the road along the way that make for the best tour tales later on :)
Once I was settled into my room and had a look at the fridge (another small square unit) I walked to the Publix only 1/4 mile away to get my groceries for the week. This time I was a little smarter about vegetables. Libby's vegetable cups can be stored without refrigeration, come in convenient single-serving cups, and won't go bad like fresh produce. I also bought less meat because with the grocery so close I can go back partway through the week, avoiding spoilage and allowing for more variety. And I got a full-size jar of almond butter, because I eat enough of it that it's worth making room for it in my luggage.
After dropping those groceries at the hotel I went looking for local bread, but was unable to find it where Google Maps had told me it would be. Turns out the bakery had moved, so that would be a project for Tuesday morning. Back at the hotel I overheard someone getting a microwave delivered to their room! Ohmigosh!! The skillet is great and all, but a microwave is SO much more convenient! I requested one right away.
The rest of my evening was spent relaxing, watching TV and checking on family.
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Tuesday I woke up too early, and did not sleep well. No particular reason.
I had a very slow morning because I was just not in the mood to go anywhere in the Florida heat.
I had a nice relaxing breakfast of yogurt and oatmeal with raspberries, then did some family stuff and made travel plans.
Around lunchtime I walked to the theatre for my first covid test of the week.
We are being tested by both the theatre and the production company, so there will be some extra testing!
I don't mind, if it makes us all safer and protects my job, let's do it!
This was the little testing booth. I checked in at security and in no time at all someone came out to help me do my rapid test. It only took a few minutes, and afterward I was given this vaccination card that is good for 48 hours.
Then it was time to find my local bread!
There is really only one option for that here in downtown Tampa, and that's Gulf Coast Sourdough!
It's a cute little cafe/bakery owned by a married couple. I was impressed by the selection, and wanted to try everything! But the flavor that called out to me most was Turmeric & Black Pepper. I picked up a bag of that, and also a "flyby", which is kind of like a hand pie or stromboli.
Back at the hotel I had a look at my goodies. The turmeric black pepper bread is so bright and colorful! It tastes great, and will be lovely for making turkey avocado sandwiches this week.
The "flyby" was falafel, hummus, sauerkraut, and spinach wrapped in oregano bread, and it was DELICIOUS.
There were more fillings than you can see in the cross-section photo; mine happened to have bubbled up in the middle so the fillings were pushed to the ends of the wrap, but they were still there :)
Once I had eaten my flyby and put away the bread I spent the rest of the afternoon working on misc emails, watching anime, and wishing I was the type of person who could nap. The evening show went well. The "orchestra females", which is just myself and Yael (trumpet), were given a HUGE dressing room to ourselves! Certainly we don't need such a big space, but because it's hot and we're walking quite a ways to the theatre each night it's nice to know we have a place where we can clean up and get changed.
The pit here is also larger than usual (blue lighting is so we can see without disturbing whatever is happening on stage).
Our opening show went well.
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Wednesday, I did sleep better. Had eggs and turmeric bread for breakfast, then wrote some emails and made some travel plans.
Around 10am I went to the hotel conference room for my PCR test, then back up to the hotel room to hang out until our media training around noon via Zoom.
I didn't have any plans for the rest of the day...it's just so "summer" here still, and I'm really not in the mood for getting sweaty walking all around town. There's nothing that I need that I can get in walking distance, so today it was just another day to chill. The evening show went well.
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Thursday I woke up late, maybe I needed the extra sleep!
It was supposed to rain all day but the rain hadn't started yet. After checking the hourly weather, it looked like I had until 2pm to do whatever I was going to do before the rain started. So I ate breakfast as usual and enjoyed a little computer time, then around 11 got dressed and hoofed it over to the Tampa Museum of Art!
It's not a very large museum, but it is beautiful with a nice selection of art on display.
Here are some of my favorites from my visit:
Two Amazon women fighting Heracles.
This artwork was in honor of the artist's late fater, and was meant to depict the soul leaving the body.
This was my favorite art of the day, over in the abstract section. I'm not usually a huge fan of abstract art, a lot of it makes me want to roll my eyes, however I thought the effect of the shading here was very cool. It was visually more striking in person; the white square seemed to float and move.
I had hoped the museum would kill an hour or more, but it really only took a half hour to walk through the whole thing, even with reading each plaque. I killed some more time walking around outside as the wind picked up and the sky darkened, but it was still only noon so I knew I had time. I made my way to Moxie's Cafe, where I got a lavender oat milk latte (no picture because it looked disappointingly like a regular iced coffee) and a pressed Cuban sandwich. Both were very good.
Then I just walked around at random for about 30 minutes because I was feeling guilty about stuffing myself. It wasn't raining yet and it was very blustery and humid, but at least I got some steps in. Back at the hotel I checked in with Jameson, then did my meal planning for the rest of the week. I definitely got a few too many groceries this time, but it was on purpose. We're busing to Orlando, so I will be able to carry any extra groceries with me for the ride and then eat them next week, so nothing will go to waste.
I also planned out the chores that I want to do while home: cleaning mostly, but also switching out some clothing from my suitcase and leaving some things behind. I'm grateful that I have the chance to do this because our show is playing Orlando. Not everyone is so lucky.
The show in the evening went well, and we had our third covid test of the week too.
And I got to pop in to the wig department!
One of our two wig artists showed me around (I'm terrible with names, very sorry). Here are some of the wigs used by Drew Becker (aka Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels) throughout the show. She told me that Drew has ten wigs total, with six actively used in the show and four available to switch out.
She also showed me this neat wig dryer! I had no idea that there existed a dryer just for wigs, but it makes sense when you think about it!
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Friday was quite a long day of nothing. Since the weather was breezy and around 80 degrees, I decided to take a stroll on the Tampa Riverwalk.
It was nice, lots of folks were out to jog or walk their dogs or ride bikes on the path. THere wasn't a whole lot to see, but it was just pleasant to get out for a bit.
The rest of the day was nothing much, I watched a movie and resisted the temptation to spend money. I wanted to go to the Florida Aquarium, but I really do need to be saving a bit before the holidays.
The evening show went well, nothing to report.
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Saturday was the start of our matinee weekend.
I had a nice breakfast, did a show, walked back to the hotel and chilled for a bit, got a shower, walked back and did the second show. I am embarrassed to say I didn't play very well for the second show...I felt tired and stressed for some reason, probably just everything going on lately and the holidays coming up. I felt distracted and didn't work at my best. Before going to sleep I resolved to do a better job on Sunday.
Sunday, had a nice breakfast and walked to Publix for a few things. We're taking a charter bus to Orlando on Monday afternoon, which means we'll have the whole morning to pack and take our time. I wanted to grab something ahead of time for lunch, mostly. Back at the hotel I packed a little at a time, chatted with people online, just kind of chilled, ate lunch.
It was Jameson's last showing of Rent. He's had a hell of a time...not a fun time, like he'd hoped.
He was hoping that music directing would be a new direction for him, something to reignite his passion for music.
Sadly that was not the case this time. It's still awesome that he got to do one of his most favorite musicals, and that the whole thing came together well in the end. But frankly, the problems that he experienced are the problems that have had the arts in decline since BEFORE the pandemic. Mainly, unprofessionalism. When one person can ruin everyone else's work with their inexperience or lack of musicianship, it drags the whole production down. Jameson poured everything he had (and then some!) into this show. And unfortunately others did not do the same, and the whole show suffered for it. I'm glad for him that he accomplished this run anyway, and I know that most of the cast worked their butts off and did a fantastic job. From everything I've heard, it was a great show. Well done, guys :)
We had two shows and both went well.
We found out that some of the producers have been in the audience all week; they literally attended every single show. Wow! They came down and introduced themselves after the matinee today. Seemed like really nice people, which made me glad. I mean, so far this has been a really great touring company. I'm grateful to be working here.
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Monday, travel day. I woke up early because I wanted to treat myself to a pumpkin pancake from First Watch.
After eating I packed, then relaxed for a few hours. We will be taking a charter bus to Orlando, and we can't leave too early or the hotel won't be ready for us. The bus arrives in Orlando around 3pm, and from there I'll probably find an Uber home, where I'll finally get to spend time with Jameson. Much needed!!!