ASU Gammage — Attraction in Tempe

When you purchase a ticket there is no warning about purse restrictions. We were at the entrance and the guard told us we need to check in our purse and we only need to walk around the corner he lied. My sister and I are older and she is recovering from ankle surgery. Our car was closer than the purse station. It was quite a lengthy walk we were both winded when we finally got there thank goodness b there are places to sit along the way. My ticket was on my phone and I was getting it pulled up. The young lady was very impatient and insisted I go to the ticket window. I offered to step aside while she helped the next person or asked her to navigate my phone she refused. The lady at the ticket window was very nice. We didn’t there where concession stands on the second floor. We asked several employees how to get to our seats no one seemed to know on the first floor either. We were just sent back and forth to each end. Finally a guest advised up we need to go upstairs. They were not aware of an elevator we could use. Iwe we’re both getting tired and sweating. We dragged ourselves up the stairs and thank goodness there was a place we could sit and rest for a bit. Finally we found an employee that knew where our seats were. Once again we are at the opposite side. Since there apparently isn’t a walk around we had to walk right across the room thru a row just hoping we didn’t fall or trip. Finally made it to the other side. I sat on the steps covered in steps and just want to go home. I whimpered a bit and my sister found our seats thank goodness there was we were on the end. Both of us swimming iin our sweat. I felt so angry I just wanted to leave. All that we went thru just to get you seats was totally unnecessary. Signs or knowledgeable employees would have certainly saved us time and anguish. I did love the show my sister didn’t. Then we waited til almost everyone left. Thank goodness we were approached by a nice young lady that put else on an elevator however we still had to walk all the way to the other side again to get our purses. Security said they could not give us a ride to our car which of course was at the other end again. Very grateful for the seating outside. The parking lot was almost empty. Something has to improve with communication and why can’t the purse restrictions clearly be indicated on the website for ticket master. Or hold purses at...

5 stars for the talent, and the staff at Gammage deserves a standing ovation for their kindness and politeness. Now, let’s talk about the 2-star experience of sitting in the top balcony; also known as the International Space Station. Tonight was my first time at Gammage, so I wasn’t prepared to feel the effects of zero gravity. The moment I climbed to the top, my ears popped, and I half-expected NASA to radio in, “Welcome aboard.”

Let’s address the seating: the first and second floors are designed for humans, but the top balcony? Strictly for astronauts, aliens, and perhaps the occasional bird-watcher. I sat next to ET, he offered me M&M’s, which, oddly enough, were salted. The seats themselves are as narrow as a middle seat on a budget airline, and the building has a distinct aroma of “vintage history” mixed with “century-old funk.”

As for the sound, Frank Lloyd Wright, your speakers are architectural masterpieces, but functional? About as useful as an air guitar. The stage was so far away it looked like an ant farm on fast-forward. The actors were moving, but what they were doing? No clue. Oxygen is scarce at that altitude, so I might’ve hallucinated part of the show. I think one of the ants waved, but it’s hard to tell.

To give you a sense of scale, if you’ve been to the Herberger and sat on the third balcony, that’s like sitting courtside compared to this. From the top of Gammage, you’re practically in orbit. The perks? You’re above the spotlights, so the actors never look at you, you’re essentially an afterthought in their peripheral vision. Watching the show from up there feels like watching someone else watch TV while you have an out-of-body experience.

The music? Stunning, probably. It’s hard to tell when the sound arrives with the same force as a whisper in a wind tunnel. Bring an oxygen tank, moon boots, and maybe a flag to wave at home base. You’re going to need the Hubble telescope to see the stage and a megaphone to relay messages to your family below. Oh, and life insurance? Double it. You’ll need coverage for high-altitude exposure and the potential crisis of being a victim of gravity.

Bottom line: stick to the first or second floor unless you’ve always dreamed of attending Broadway in space.

The isles are so narrow, all it takes is one little trip, toss and turn, and you’re going to fall miles down to earth, to an early grave. Enjoy the show, from a ghost’s...

Hamilton. This night, Kitten and I had the honor of attending a performance with Kittenette, as opposed to 'for the pleasure to see Kittenette perform'. I'm going to confess something right now; I had no idea what Hamilton was about except that it somehow involved a former founder of our great nation.

Just to get this out of the way; the performance was excellent of course. I can tell you that everyone there had seen it at least once, because the entire crowd laughed when appropriate and cheered when appropriate. Everybody had their favorite characters even if the performers were different. But the performers were excellent, and I found myself thinking that I could have gone out and spent $300 a ticket to go see RATM, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé with special guest Iron Maiden(actually, I would pay $500 a ticket for that, as long as both acts played 20 minutes sets back to back to back to back because that would be ultimately hilarious) or any number of acts that are presently acting. But this was so much better because there are so many more talented people on the stage doing really talent-requiring things and the bonus was that I had to go back and read some dusty history books just get back into what was going on at the time.

I have to confess something else. I'm deadly afraid of heights and flying and I used to do both with unnerving frequency. We were up in Zone 10 or whatever it was called and I wasn't really ready for that; at first I think I stood on a couple people's toes. My apologies to everybody whose face I almost grabbed. But after the intermission everything was cool and I was generally inured to the craziness of that place.

The solid five stars for Gammage. If you should see something there, see it twice; once from reasonable seats and then again...