February 4, 2022 - Musical "An American in Paris"

Jenn, the daughter of a friend of ours, is the Covid Manager for the new traveling musical "An American in Paris". One of their performances was last night at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida. Jenn knew we were here in St. Petersburg and called to offer us comped tickets to the performance. We jumped at the chance. 

Having been on the road for weeks Jenn was anxious to go to the beach for a couple of hours yesterday but as it ended up her obligations would not let her leave the complex. She has to test all actors, crew, bus drivers, truck drivers, etc. on a daily basis for Covid, keep records, and quarantine anyone who tests positive. I don't know how many people are involved in the production but watching last night I'm sure there are at least fifty people including director, stage managers, musicians, actors, dancers, understudies, crew, and drivers. 

It was interesting to learn that the managers, musicians, actors, and dancers stay at local hotels and travel between cities on a tour bus. The crew sleeps in bunks in another bus. There are also four tractor-trailers full of sets, lights, equipment, etc. taken to each venue. Each stage they perform on is different in size so the sets have to be modified to fit after they arrive. It is a lot of work on a daily basis. This troupe will be performing in a different city across the country almost every day until the middle of May. 

After the performance Jenn had to test everyone. Then we picked her up and treated her to a quick, late dinner at Bar Fly in Safe Harbor. She had to get back to get on the bus, which was leaving around 1:00 a.m., for a seven hour trip to Key West for their performance tonight. While the crew have bunks and can sleep on the ride, the actors, who had been in a local hotel, ride in their tour bus sitting in regular bus seats - a little hard to sleep. It must be grueling to do that then perform that evening.

We had never been to Ruth Eckerd Hall and found it to be a beautiful facility. Here is a picture of the lobby.

The theater seats 2800 people and has a garden in the back where live music is played before each performance. Early arrivers can sit out there with a drink and relax until ready to enter the theater. Jenn had us meet her there. Here is a picture.

The garden area was great and we enjoyed a glass of wine before going in for the performance. Here is a picture of a tree that is part of the garden. The base of the tree has to be the size of a small car. It is huge and majestic.

We had great seats in Row L on the right side of the stage. The performance was wonderful and we enjoyed it immensely. We are so glad Jenn thought of us and got us tickets. There are lots of live musical events at Ruth Eckerd Hall and we may look into going to another event there before we head home.