Gammage Goers
A panel of ASU Gammage theatregoers shares their opinions throughout the season.
Meet David
David
Where do you live? Chandler, Arizona
Age: 40
Occupation: Commercial Real Estate Appraiser
Marital Status? Married
Children and Grandchildren: Yes, proud parent of three: Alexander the Great (8), Jackson the Magnificent (6) & Zoey the Wonderful (3)
Where did you grow up? I’m from Cleveland, Ohio but grew up mostly here in Phoenix.
First Broadway show, and where you saw it: I was lucky enough to bring my biggest Broadway influence, my grandmother, here to Gammage to see The Phantom of the Opera.
At what age did you see your first Broadway show? 20 years old
What is your favorite Broadway show? My favorite Broadway show is usually the most recent that I’ve seen. At the top of my list are the Phantom, Rent, the Lion King and In the Heights. If I absolutely had to pick a favorite, I’d probably go with the Lion King… for now.
What are your hobbies? Outside of hanging out with the family, I occasionally find the free time to engage in a few different hobbies. If learning can be considered a hobby, that’s what I like best. I read a lot of non-fiction, particularly of the historical nature. I like to get outdoors for exercise; biking, running and hiking. More typical hobbies that I have include a coin collection, map collection and a collection of Cleveland Browns football cards. I also find a little peace of mind with my ongoing attempts at gardening.
A song and artist that speaks to you: I love music and lots of songs speak to me. However, lately it’s been True To Myself, by Ziggy Marley. The title and underlying message say it all. If you can’t be true to yourself, how can you help those you love and on top of that, the family, the community and eventually, the world.
Something Unique about yourself that defines you: I’ve heard that I tend to think a little bit out of the box. I’d also like to think that I do a pretty decent job of being a friend. However, it might not be considered unique, but I think in defining myself, I would have to go along the lines of the term family man. For the most part, everything I do is with my wife and kids in mind and I would rather be coaching one of my boys, teaching a Junior Achievement lesson in their classrooms or just enjoying a date night with my wife than doing pretty much anything else.
David's Video Reviews
David's Written Reviews
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The New Mel Brooks Musical: Young Frankenstein
ASU Gammage Theater
September 28, 2010 7:30p performanceLast night I was lucky enough to get the chance to attend the second showing of Gammage’s Broadway Season opening show The New Mel Brooks Musical: Young Frankenstein. Once again, the Gammage experience did not fail to disappoint. This touring show proved to live up to its billing with Brooks’ humorous take on the Shelley classic. Strategically placed throughout the performance, the innuendo and humorous actions (bordering on slapstick), comments and scenes kept the audience laughing. On first thought, you would think a production based on a movie made in the early 70’s would be dated. Luckily for us, the Brooks humor is not only timeless, but there are several examples of updating scenes with current cultural occurrences.
The cast was first rate, very well capable of pulling off the top notch performance that they did on all fronts; acting, singing and dancing. As a matter of fact, in the after show mill, more than once patrons made comments as to how they had seen the show once upon a time in New York and that this performance as a whole (and some individual performers), were better. From what I remember as a kid, the storyline pretty much stuck to the movie and although perhaps adapted for the stage, the major gags were all there. I have to say I liked the stage better myself.
As far as individual performers go, I have a deep appreciation for what it takes to do what they do and find it hard to pick out and point out the intricacies of individual performances and rating whether or not someone was fantastic, good, fair, bad, poor or any other general term. However, that being said, I believe a few performers stood out. The characters of Dr. Fronkensteen (I couldn’t resist), Inga and Elizabeth were very well played by very talented artists with a good sense of comedic timing and great vocal talent (especially Elizabeth). I believe most prominent in the show for these same traits were the characters of The Monster and Igor. I might add that these characters nearly stole the show with their performances.
Also, kudos go out to the ensemble (most notably for the closing number), for the craftsmanship of the stage and lighting (we felt as if we were in some of the storms) and for the orchestra (smoothly taking us through each scene). One thing that could have been a little better was that there were some moments where it was hard to hear or understand a word or two uttered by a few characters. I’m not sure if it was because of the way the lines were said, the accent utilized, our location in the theater or a combination of the preceding, but these were just minor issues.
Overall, I would have to say that if you could use a good laugh (and who couldn’t in this day and age?); make your way to Gammage to catch Young Frankenstein. The performance is top notch and the humor will keep you laughing throughout the evening. I went into it with an open mind, thinking that it would be okay, but not quite my cup of tea and left feeling pleasantly surprised at how much I thoroughly enjoyed the performance.
On a side note, I do have to add the only disappointing portion of the evening. Fortunately it had nothing to do with the cast or the production. I attended the show with my wife and both she and I were appalled during the curtain call to see the early exit of several patrons. We were fortunate enough to be in row eleven, so we didn’t get a view of the whole of the audience, but even in these first eleven rows at least a dozen people on our side of the theater partook in the opportunity for an early exit (two of which blocked our view for an extended period, limiting our chance to applaud Inga’s character). Whatever happened to theater etiquette? I understand what may be an urgent need for the restroom by a few or the desire to beat others out of the parking lot after 20,000 people are leaving the ball game, but in my humble opinion, whether the show was liked or not, that extra two minutes should be spent showing respect and appreciation for the efforts, not only of the cast but of the whole production team for the time, effort and energy extended towards our entertainment.
David
2010-2011 Gammage Goer
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Gammage Goer David's Review of
Les Misérables
June 7, 2011 7:30pmLast night’s performance of the award winning musical Les Misérables pulled off the amazing feat of both doing justice to the novel on which its based and living up to its lofty reputation. Based on the 19th century Victor Hugo novel of the same name (which admittedly I’ve yet to read), Les Misérables is a very involved story that mostly follows the life of Jean Valjean, basically a good man trying his best to survive through the ups and downs of tough times and situations. His story is intertwined with that of several others (as you would expect in a 1,400 page text) over a period of nearly 20 years. With the length of time covered and the many subplots that make up the story (which is considered to be the best example of French literature for the period), you would expect it to be difficult to express in a single musical production. Les Misérables proves these misconceptions to be wrong in being able to tell the story in a way in which the storylines and characters are all understood.
The Broadway production is centered on a few main characters played marvelously by this traveling cast. The lead character of Jean Valjean was played wonderfully as the emotions of the story’s events were expressed and passed through to the audience by J. Mark McVey, whose talents are at or near the top of what we’ve seen at Gammage this season. Mr. McVey’s vocal talents even served as a show stopper at one point with a midscene standing ovation reminiscent of the boys from Kaper Inc. Not to be outdone, the characters of Cosette, Éponine and Marius also showed great talent in vocals and performance. For myself, I was blown away by the actors that portrayed Jean and Éponine, but it was clear by the audience’s reactions that these were not the only top performers. The entire cast was great from lead to ensemble and the overall performance was top notch and in my humble opinion, probably the best of what has been a wonderful season.
In addition to wonderful performances by the cast, I would be remiss in not pointing out the crew that designed, put together and staged the show. Stage, lighting, sound effects and transitions were nearly flawless and did more than just accentuate the production. This portion of the show was one of the best I’ve ever experienced. As we’ve come to expect, the orchestra played wonderfully and unobtrusively helped to set the mood for the on stage action. Together with the cast, these professionals helped immensely in making the show a great experience.
Overall, I was blown away by the musical Les Misérables and would recommend it to anyone and everyone looking to experience Broadway here in the Valley of the Sun. Once again Gammage has come through with obtaining a top quality production and finishes its season leaving me with a great deal of anticipation for the upcoming season’s shows. Thank you Gammage!
