Bringing a Group to Gammage is Easy!

People always have the same reaction whenever I tell them I work for ASU Gammage in group sales. They say, “Oh, that must be so fun”. And actually, yes it is! It is very rewarding to meet people who have organized a group to see a Broadway show in this beautiful building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The groups that come to Gammage are as varied as the different Broadway shows. As you can imagine, a group interested in ANNIE is most likely not as interested in a show such as AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY. Both great shows- but they appeal to different audiences. We try each season to present a Broadway line up that has something for everyone- from great family shows such as LITTLE HOUSE to hilariously funny, adult oriented shows such as AVENUE Q.

Bringing a group to Gammage is easy and I am glad to report that we are off to a fantastic start. The fun began with our first show of the 09-10 season LEGALLY BLONDE which was here in September. Many of the ASU sororities on campus purchased group tickets in the balcony and they all wore pink! It was quite entertaining to look out over a ‘sea of pink” each night and realize everyone was having such a great time.

The next show (which just ended this past Sunday) was PHANTOM. LOTS of groups came to enjoy this wonderful show- including two large student groups. The first group attended our ASU Gammage “Girl Scout Night” which includes a post show Q & A with cast members and a GS patch. On November 10, nearly 400 scouts and troop leaders attended Phantom and had the opportunity to ask questions of the cast. A BIG thank you to Susan Russell at the Cactus Pine Council who helped coordinate this special event. The second large group was 200 students and parents from the Highland HS Marching Band in Gilbert, AZ. Congrats to this fantastic band who just placed first in the State Marching Band competition. What music did their award winning show feature? Andrew Lloyd Weber’s music from PHANTOM, of course! What a great opportunity for them to see the show and meet the Associate Music Director, David Robinson, who was so generous with his time after the show.

Even though I have highlighted two large groups, you only need to purchase 15 tickets to qualify for special group pricing and benefits at ASU Gammage. As a matter of fact, most of our groups are less than 50 people. So, take a look at our season line up and contact me if you have any questions about bring a group to one of our Broadway shows. I’d love to hear from you!

--Jennifer Gadek, jennifer.gadek@asu.edu

From Kevin Massey, Actor from Little House on the Prairie the Musical

"LET’S GO WEST!...WAY WEST!

Having traveled mostly in middle America, I know we are all excited to be the farthest west yet when we arrive in Tempe! I’ve heard a lot about Frank Lloyd Wright’s ASU Gammage. A number of our cast members took a small field trip in Tulsa to see some of Wright’s work nearby. I think Gammage will be the most unique house we have played thus far.

Plus, it’s right on the corner of the ASU campus. I loved my days at UNC-Chapel Hill and the great energy of a college town, so I’m sure Tempe will not disappoint. We’ve got a lot of kids fresh out of college who will probably feel right at home.

A new city brings a new experience with the show. It’s always interesting to see how the audiences react a little differently in each state we visit. Some jokes land incredibly well in one place and then get a more subtle response in others. For instance, one line in the show is “Well, it’s 20 degrees below zero…thank goodness the cold snap is over.” In Minnesota, it’s one of our biggest laughs of the night. In Arkansas, we get a smaller but respectable chuckle. But in the end, everyone really seems to enjoy the journey. We’ll see if Tempe gives us a hearty guffaw!

We’re looking forward to bringing the wagon train into town soon!"

Kevin Massey (Almanzo Wilder)

From Sean MacLaughlin, “Raoul” in the National Tour of The Phantom of the Opera …

Currently, we are in Tempe. It is a great town! I don’t think that I have EVER worn shorts on Halloween. The audience has been great and the ASU campus is absolutely gorgeous. I think in the past few cities, Tempe’s audience is the best! Every audience in Tempe have been extremely generous with their reactions and especially with the curtain call. I am being

completely honest when I say I don’t want to leave this city and I wish we were here longer. This city has a great layout and everything you need is a short walk, but if you want to get away, the mountains are just around the corner.

I love Photography and Comic Books so since I have been here I’ve found some great areas to photograph and I drove out to a toy shop owned by my favorite Spiderman Artist Todd McFarlane. Also, I like to gamble occasionally, so I ended up making a few trips to different casinos. Besides that, I have been soaking up the sun as much as I can before we head back to the east coast.

Life on the road is a blast. I carry around all of my entertainment (video games, movies etc) and we have a trunk that the company advances for us. Since I drive, I am able to cart around my dog and pack in more luxuries that make me feel home on the road. We are all so lucky to see different cities for a month at a time. At times the road gets extremely hard (i.e. driving from Tempe, AZ to Durham, NC), but once I get settled in, the drive isn’t so bad. I like to map out a route hitting every random stop along the way to each city. I will have many pictures from random roadside attractions at the end of the tour… I still have to get pictures of the world’s largest ball of twine and I still have to go to Roswell, NM. The drive is great because I get to take a road trip every month! I miss New York TERRIBLY, but I love doing this show and I haven’t gotten the traveling out of my system...yet.

Tech Talk

PHANTOM has been “In” for three weeks and all seems well with the production so I thought that I would show some of the structure that holds things up! This production, which has been on the road for 17 years, was one of the first productions that would alter theaters across the country to allow the show to fit inside.

The tour added structural steel above the stage and the house to hold up the Chandelier and Proscenium. These two set pieces weigh a total of 14,000 lbs!!

This is a picture of the stage right service truss. It is where the tour light board and its operator live during the show. The platform is 40 feet above the stage and you have to climb a “wire rope” ladder to access it!

An interesting note about the production compared to other large shows (LION KING, WICKED, etc) is that PHANTOM does not have any moving lights in the show. There is however LOTS of scrollers, strobe lights and of course pyrotechnics!

PHANTOM requires each theater it travels to have 30,000 pounds of stage weights (referred to as “Pigs” in our world) These pigs are used as counterweights to balance the weight of the show on the arbors (the white ropes on the right side of the picture are attached to arbors). The other way things are flown in and out is by the use of chain motors, PHANTOM has 52 of them on tour! The Stage Truss from the above picture is held up by four- 2ton chain motors!

Among the 20 trucks that take the show across the country is this “Billboard Truck” sometime this is just an advertisement truck but in the case of PHANTOM it is actually their Shop Truck. The truck is used to deliver all the tools that the tour might need to fix set and prop pieces. Hopefully we won’t need this truck while PHANTOM’s here, but it’s good to know it’s here if we need it!

It has been an honor to work with the PHANTOM Tour, hope you get a chance to see it while it’s here! If you have any questions feel free to email me, I’m always willing to talk tech!

-Jeff Rollins
j.rollins@asu.edu