Note from Mel Brooks!!

Dear townspeople,

It’s true—35 years ago I created a monster, and now he’s roaming loose around the country. In fact, he’s heading straight for your village. What do you want from me, an apology? You should be thanking me!

Sure, sure, he has the body of a Ford Edsel and the brains to match, but nothing’s funnier than that big dumb lug “Puttin’ on the Ritz” in my newest musical, Young Frankenstein. This show has all the great gags from the original movie, plus some new zingers, music, and dancing we threw in just for fun. And for a limited time only, you can see it performed in living color!

If you enjoyed The Producers, you’re just the kind of sucker who will like Young Frankenstein. So go, get your tickets. Laugh at the monster, and thank me later.

Mel Brooks

Bill T. Jones - On His Way to Gammage!

Young Frankenstein is coming to ASU Gammage!

It is so hard to believe that the new seasons have begun both on Broadway and at ASU Gammage. ASU Gammage is turning green with the start of the season with YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. This Mel Brooks production following on the heels of the PRODUCERS is taken from the film of the same name and just as riotous and the “putting on the Ritz” number is unforgettable.

The Broadway season is resplendent with stars, Al Pacino in the Bard’s MERCHANT OF VENICE. I plan on being first in line for this evening. For those of you, who may not have seen Al on stage in KING RICHARD III or AMERICAN BUFFALO or other works, make sure you don’t miss it.

ASU Gammage has had past discussions with Mr. Pacino as he was in search of a stage to do a reading of SALOME’. At a late night haunt for Broadway insiders, I ran into Tony winner of DOUBT, Cherry Jones (also the POTUS for you fans of the hit TV show “24”) as she prepares to open in MISS WARRENS PROFESSION this month on Broadway. Ever gracious, Cherry remarked on how she loved reprising the role of Mother Superior in DOUBT on the GAMMAGE stage for a wonderful and intelligent audience a few seasons back.

This week Bill T. Jones two time Tony winner for SPRING AWAKENING and FELA managed to have four creative meetings, lunch with Gammage VIPs all the while Bill was fielding calls on Patti La Belle’s opening night on Broadway debuting in FELA …the next night! Bill and his Creative Director and partner Bjorn Amelan are also preparing for the move to London for the British premier of FELA. And IF that wasnt a full enough day, Bill T. Jones was named a Kennedy Center Honoree alongside Broadway royalty Jerry Herman, Sir Paul McCartney, Merle Haggard and the queen of oh so many worlds Oprah.

We found ourselves fielding press and congratulatory calls for Mr. Jones from across the country and around the world. WHEW! We will Cheer Bill on as he receives his honors on CBS December 28^th.

Bravo!!

See you on Broadway and in ASU GAMMAGE!

Tech Talk

Tech Talk

It has been quite a summer over here at  ASU Gammage! We’ve been busy freshening
up the building for the upcoming season and can’t wait to get started! I had a
chance last week to “get in the groove” by working the ASU Fall Welcome Concert
and Event over at Wells Fargo Arena (WFA). (Yes, they do let me out of the
building every now and then!) Working at WFA presents its own unique challenges
as it’s an athletic facility (Go ASU Basketball!) and not the familiar setting
of ASU Gammage.


As you can see in this photo the load-in
area is the West Tunnel (same place the teams enter when playing a game) but it
is continually sloped down toward the court which makes handling road cases that
are on wheels all the more difficult! WFA also resurfaces the court every summer
and guess who has the fun of being the first person on it…? Yup, that would be
me! Since we obviously do not want to mar the bright new shiny floor we use
Teflon maroon cover that protects it from the stage legs, road boxes and concert
goers.


As you can see a lot of work goes into the
construction of the stage and loading in of the Band Gear! The head liner of
this year’s concert was country singer Dierks Bentley and the opener was  rapper
Chingy . It took two full days of working to get the band and their gear loaded
in and performance ready. As you may have realized, there are no “battens”
(pipes you can hang lights or scenery on) in an arena. The way around this is to
crawl up into the catwalks at WFA and hang chain motors onto the steel I-beams
of the building. This is done by professional riggers (even I get week in the
knees when walking around up there, it’s really high!)



At concert time everything was up, the band had been through sound check and we
were set with the lights. Only one thing left to do…. Turn off the lights and
send the talent onstage!



This was a few minutes before “Go” time.
Security everywhere and nothing much to do until concert time.


Chingy starts things off with some high energy rapping!


This was all I could shoot of Dierks
(contract issues), but it was a good show!! And WFA was packed too! Go Devils!

Day three of the Fall Welcome week was the Sun Devil Welcome where all the
incoming students are invited to WFA to listen to people speak and get ready for
the beginning of their new adventure as a Sun Devil. Dr Crow, Lisa Love, Coach
Sendek and others spoke at the event and were very motivating. The day concluded
with the ASU Marching Band storming the arena and teaching the Sun Devil Fight
Song!

Here is the Sun Devil Marching Band standing
by for their takeover of the arena! I am not sure how many students are in the
band (there are tons of them) and yet they all squished into the west tunnel and
ran all throughout the arena while playing their instruments, truly awesome!
Of course all great events come to an end! The floor was unharmed and we cleaned
up all of our messes! It was a great week of load-ins, rigging, rap, country,
inspiration and Sun Devil Pride! I can’t wait until next year! If you can’t wait
to here more feel free to shoot me an email, I always love to talk tech!

-Jeff Rollins

New Beginnings

I love the idea of new beginnings- a time to begin again, a fresh start. That idea is always on my mind this time of year when young men and women are beginning their freshman year of college. This Saturday through Tuesday, August 14-17, thousands of new students will move into residence halls across all four ASU campuses. ASU Gammage will welcome them at Wells Fargo Arena as they check in. It is an exciting time for students and a stressful time for parents!

Many will leave their kids and return to their homes in other parts of the country. Some will cry, others will breathe a sigh of relief, but all will realize that their sons and daughters will be moving forward with the next part of their life’s journey. It is a significant step toward independence. College life is filled with fantastic experiences, growing pains, new relationships, more growing pains, and great fun. The best part of college in my opinion is the diversity. Diversity of ideas, of interests, of socio economic backgrounds ...the list goes on and on. And you get to present yourself to all these new people as your own unique person while sharing in this common event called Fall Welcome Week at ASU. A new beginning- very cool!

Here at ASU Gammage we are committed to the idea of engaging students in the arts- many have never been to NYC to see a Broadway musical or play. The notion that they can have that experience - right here on campus- is pretty incredible.

To introduce our new students and families to Gammage, we will be hosting Broadway Buzz on Monday, August 16 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. ASU students are invited to a FREE event to see what ASU Gammage has to offer. Find out about the 2010/2011 Broadway season featuring shows and actors straight from New York in Tony Award-winning hits like HAIR, MAMMA MIA!, BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL, SPRING AWAKENING and more.

In addition to the Broadway series, find out what else ASU Gammage has to offer like its BEYOND series, student rush discounted tickets, student subscriptions, Campus Connection events and so much more.

Broadway Buzz will also feature free food, activities, giveaways, and more. It will be a chance to meet new friends who enjoy the performing arts as much as you. Plus, the first 150 people to arrive will receive a free Broadway gift.

“We are so excited to to open our building to ASU’s newest students—our doors are always open to them and we look forward to entertaining them this year,” says Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, executive director.

The best part is that we are offering a student package this year which will include tickets to four of the Broadway shows coming to ASU Gammage AND the opportunity to meet other students who love Broadway. We will have student events before or after each of the 4 shows where kids can mingle and chat about the show- get to know one another and hopefully make new friends. We are excited to introduce Broadway to another freshman class at ASU, so look for our table at Wells Fargo Arena when checking in- or come Broadway Buzz on Monday at 6:30PM at Gammage. It will be lots of fun and the start of another great season of Broadway at Gammage!