ASU Gammage

I bought 2 tickets to see Idina Menzel star in IF/​THEN at ASU Gammage on Wed. Jan. 13^th, 2016. Gammage Box Office sent out an email 4:16pm the day of the performance alerting ticket holders that Ms. Menzel had taken ill with food poisoning and would not be performing that night. The email provided ticket holders the option to call the box office to make other arrangements. However, the box office closes at 6pm, the same time I’m off work and read the email. I called the box office the very next day and asked if I could use the credit towards the next show and was told no. I asked to speak to the box office manager, John, and he told me there was nothing he could do and that I should have called last night. I suggested when there’s a major change in the lead performer that the box office might stay open later to handle the fall-​out with their theatre goers. I disputed the charge with AmEx and have nothing good to say about how Gammage dismissed the issue and their lack of customer service!

For the price of the tickets the seating is not at all satisfactory. the seats on Southwest Airlines are bigger and that’s not saying much. Very uncomfortable squishing in next to your neighbors. the play If/​Then was wonderful but I would have enjoyed it more with comfortable seating.

Gammage does a great job getting a great selection every season. I’m also super happy to have donated to the elevate and alleviate program. What a great cause! More restrooms for women! Gammage also is great spacially, making for a comfortable experience. I have seen 5 musicals in the last year and a half. My only complaint is that they really should hire a new sound team. For a building with such great acoustics, the sound should not be so inconsistent. It’s shocking too because they recently put in a new sound system, which makes me think it is the team’s ineptitude. Also side note: my husband’s seat tonight at If Then was broken. Huge disappointment… But I don’t want to mark you down another star for it. Overall, Gammage is a great place for locals who love theater, especially after the new restrooms campaign and construction.

Great venue, parking was ok, easy I. And out. I’ve seen off Broadway shows. Restaurants in the area. A good theatre with good site lines and adequate leg room.

Went to see «If/​Then last night. With the amount of people parking it’s clear there must be politically charged rivalry that prevents a forward professing city like Tempe from providing left turn arrows and better flow to the thousands of people attempting to park in Gammages provided parking. It’s bad enough to force a play-​goer to get to Gammage as early as possible to make the opening of any performance.
This underscores the impotence of government and elevates capitalism which if gives an opportunity would hammer another nail in the coffin of a city council ignoring legitimate needs of people because that same council probably provided tax benefits to Gammage and now insist on its patrons paying the price of their disgruntled decision. One can only guess. It’s 2016. The other Tempe traffic routes surrounding the towers along the Town Lake seem to boast of governmental bias.

I wish I could say I love this place. It’s everything I presumably like: publicly-​funded, donates to non-​profits, designed by a famous architect, and hosts all the Broadway shows I love.
Yeah, but I can’t say that. ASU is one of the biggest universities in the world and tuition isn’t cheap (I would know, I owe them 15K). The tickets aren’t cheap, and you can expect to pay over $ 100 a head for even a balcony seat. So you’d think they’d have the money to make this place nice on the inside, right?
Uh, no.
The walls look like they haven’t been repainted since the ‘70s and they banned indoor smoking. The whole place smells kind of like old people funk. The central air conditioning is terrible. You’re basically in sweat city within twenty minutes of any show. I know you’re supposed to dress up for nice Broadway shows, but I think I would be more comfortable naked with how hot this place gets.
Parking is an absolute nightmare. The actual lot for the venue fills up over two hours before a show. You’re left with a poorly-​designed structure that is about a block away, that also fills up an hour before the show (and takes over an hour to get out of afterwards). Then you can presumably park elsewhere and take a bus. I don’t know for sure, because with a partially-​handicapped mother, no way I’m risking that. So I always show up 90 minutes early.
The seats are tiny. I’ve sat next to people that were just a bit overweight and had half their butt in my lap. I’m pretty sure that airlines have bigger seats.
And here’s the absolute worst — there’s no bathrooms. Well, there’s maybe 50 total stalls for both genders, combined, in the whole place. Might as well be no bathrooms, because you’re sure as hell not using them if you don’t want to miss half an hour of whatever you paid $ 100 to see. If you do need to use them, good luck queueing. There’s no place to queue for their absurdly tiny bathrooms.
So show up ninety minutes early in 100 °F, go in sit in a sweaty old theater in tiny seats and sweat your butt off after paying $ 12 for a drink, go and sweat in a crowded queue for the bathroom during intermission, and miss half of the second act for your troubles. Then you can go take a sweaty walk to your car a block away, sit in it for a sweat hour while the tiny garage slowly clears out on tiny two-​lane streets, and go home and brag about spending $ 200+ for two seats to an actual Broadway touring show.
If anyone else, and I do mean absolutely anyone else, had touring Broadway shows, I’d be first in line to chuck my money at them. Because this place has seen better days… thirty years ago.

Love Gammage from top to bottom. I always have & always will. The student staff is always sweet faced & helpful. The venue is a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece. Not a complaint even if I tried.

What’s better than watching Book of Mormon in a Frank Lloyd Wright auditorium? Probably watching it in one with plentiful bathrooms, but that’s the only thing I can think of.
We were in the nosebleeds since I’m too cheap to spend actual money on seats, and I would have expected to have difficulty seeing or hearing the production. Somehow, though, the shape of the building funnels your vision directly to the stage, and as you’re not able to see the rows of people floors below you, you feel like you have choice seats. It’s like the guy who designed this building is some genius architect or something. The sound system was great and I never had any difficulty hearing the actors.
All in all, great experience and a killer production. I’m looking forward to coming back for another show!

60 years, and they still have extraordinarily inadequate toilet facilities — seating capacity: 3000. Total toilets available — fewer than 50 (both sexes). 20 minute intermission — do your own math. Good ol’ Frank Lloyd Wright — design for aesthetics, not for practicality.
Oh yeah — $ 140/​seat for tickets, then ask for donations to charity on the way out? Why not donate some of the show profit?
Other than that, it was ok.

Saw The Book of Mormon at the Gammage and it was a blast! By the time we got within a few blocks of the venue, we only had a half hour to spare before start time. After parking, walking, buying a drink and finding our seats, we actually had 10 minutes to spare. In other words, the the staff really had the large crowd covered. The entire stage was visible from Orchestra A (we are of average height).
Why 4 starts versus 5? The bathroom situation; they are Ill-​equipped for sold out crowds in terms of the number of facilities. I made it back to my seat with a few seconds to spare during intermission.
Overall, I would definitely go to another show at this venue.
**A suggestion: Take a route that gets you to the Apache Lot (one block away), a route away from the Gammage. Parking was $ 6. This appeared to save us a lot of time.

Saw Wicked the musical last night in the Gammage. And what a beautiful theatre! Loved the show. Sitting on the second balcony was perfect, you could see everything on the stage!

Gammage is a nice theatre but incredibly outdated! The carpet is so worn and stained, bathrooms are practically non-​existent with a few stalls in each and parking can be a problem if you don’t arrive at least an hour before show time. Besides the long bathroom lines, the bar set up here is set up so a line forms into the passing walkway, which gets incredibly congested and you’re literally shoulder to shoulder with people just to pass by. I’ve had drinks spilled on me as people are squeezing by just to get to their seats. Oh, and don’t forget the incredible food/​drink markup. $ 10 for a cocktail! Once you arrive in the theatre, the seats are so small and uncomfortable (think airplane seat but worse). $ 111 a ticket (with tax) to see a Broadway play in such an uncomfortable seat for almost 3 hours was almost unbearable.
The show itself was good but the theatre is sub-​par at best. I will definitely think twice before wanting to see another production here.

Love this hall!!! I went and saw Wicked with my boyfriend and it was AMAZING! Obviously the musical itself was fantastic, great show, great props, great stage decorations, fabulous cast… it was all 10 stars!!! Gammage itself is very beautiful, the attendants are all very nice, informative and helpful. This place is always clean, the bathrooms are neat and the seating is done very well. Not a bad seat in the house. The only thing I would love to change is having better chairs, small complaint but I guess I am getting old! Every show I go to here I always have a hard time sitting for a few hours in the chairs comfortably to watch the show.

We absolutely love seeing Broadway productions at ASU Gammage. The classic, elegant feel of Gammage truly makes your Broadway experience one to remember. Last night, we saw Wicked for the first time and it was absolutely phenomenal! Their locally made homemade goodies at the snack bar make the perfect intermission treat {the toffee is a must!}.
The only thing that they could improve on is the bathroom situation! I didn’t even have time to get through the line before the show started again, which was a major bummer! So if you have to go, I would rush straight there when the doors open!
Other than that, our experience was a fantastic one! We can’t wait to come back for Book of Mormon in October!

Design by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957 as an opera house for Baghdad, an overthrown monarchy tabled the idea and plans. The then President of ASU, Grady Gammage, called Wright, who altered the plans to reflect the culture and scenery of the new location.
The Grady Gammage Auditorium is the center of ASU’s performing arts campus.
Wow, I can not believe I am giving this venue only three stars. As a season ticket holder for the last five years, I just enjoyed Wicked, and I am looking forward to The Book of Mormon. The people who work here are great. The wine bar, snacks, ticket office are all fantastic.
So, why the three stars?
I am sick and tired of the parking situation, the poor acoustics, and the restroom situation. I know, I know, the place is a landmark and nobody wants to alter the architecture, but enough already.
Yesterday, the parking lot was full and closed for a full 40 minutes before show time. After a twenty minute snail crawl drive to the overflow lot, people were literally running in order to make show time. If you are a female, you can all but forget using the restroom. Long lines, few stalls, all in the name of not altering the master design. Sitting in row 11 dead center for last nights show or our regular row a few back, the actors are difficult to understand.
Something has to be done. Very frustrating as a season ticket holder.

Yet another horrible experience at Gammage. It’s a shame it’s the only venue for a major broadway production in town as it really diminishes some wonderful performances (this review is for the the facility only). Yes, it’s a historic structure… but good architecture doesn’t equal good acoustics. The acoustics are often so garbled that it’s impossible to understand the actors. (I feel like I’m listening to the Charlie Brown teacher perform.) The only redeeming factor on this front is they offer listening devices that use microphones from the stage. These are free and make the voices crystal clear. I started going back once I learned of this option.
The venue itself is horribly run. Parking is a nightmare as they have little to no staff directing traffic. Once you arrive, parking often takes 30 minutes or more. And this isn’t in any way due to lack of parking, but rather the lack of the appropriate support staff for the venue. To make matters worse, the venue doesn’t take this into consideration and won’t delay a show for 5 – 10 minutes. This often leaves hundreds of people (15 – 25 people per entry) missing the first 10 – 15 minutes as they won’t let you enter once the show starts.
Then there’s the bathroom issue. There simply aren’t enough to support the audience. Granted, I’m a guy and I can usually get to the bathroom during an intermission… barely. But if you’re a woman, forget it, you’re going to miss the beginning of the second act if you don’t run from your seat as soon as you see curtain movement.
All in all, a horrible facility… literally, the worst once that I’ve ever patronized in the U.S. or overseas. But will I keep going back? Unfortunately, the answer is yes as it’s what an Arizonian is forced to deal with should he or she want to enjoy theater.

The premier venue to watch a play or concert in town.
Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright the inside in acousticly built to maximize any vocalist and your seats are not that far away unless you are at the very top.
The bathrooms are a little out dated and don’t accomodate large crowds.
Until a few years ago you were not allowed to bring drinks and snacks in th we auditorium and there are no cup holders.
I have been attending shows and concerts here for many years and have seen Phantom of the Opera, Wicked to Elton John’s comeback concert which the sound is always top notch.
Big tip, if you are an ASU Student, half price tickets are available morning of show and sometimes are prime seats.
Parking is limited but we generally park at the garage off Apache and College/​Normal which is a short walk.

Man… the more I go here, the more I hate this venue. The shows and performers are OUTSTANDING, but it is a true shame that this is the best venue that AZ has to showcase them in. Phoenix is the 5^th largest city in the US, and this is the best that they can do? Embarrassing…
Aside from the pukey colored walls and a color scheme that was stolen from a 1980s couch, this pink spaceship seems more like a outdated convention center as opposed to a theatre. It’s truly an eyesore from the outside as well. I love Frank Lloyd Wright and his architecture (having grown up in a midwestern town where his architecture was prevalent), but this definitely is NOT his best work. Poor Frank would probably be disappointed in the dirty orange carpeting too.
How can they charge the ticket prices that they charge (which are fair, considering the high quality performances) and not provide adequate bathroom facilities? The second act of the show starts, and for the first ten minutes of Act Two audience members are crawling over each other getting back to their seats because the bathroom lines were so dang long. Come on Gammage!
Every time we see their lineup of shows, we’re excited… but we immediately think, «Do we really wanna deal with this horrid venue?» Wish somebody would buy this place out, sink some money into it and make it the gem that it could be.

I’m pretty lucky to be near the ASU Gammage Building.
The Gammage is a beautiful building and it is a Frank Lloyd Wright design. It’s a 3000 seat performance hall with the further seat only being 115 away from the stage and it has three levels. I have been to the Gammage many times and always look forward to going back, I don’t think there is a bad seat in the Gammage, I have been at the top of the balcony, and just a few rows back from the stage. The sound carries perfectly and before you know you are wrapped up in the show!
Take a minute to look around the Gammage and look at all the detailed artwork it has, it’s just a very beautiful building for sure.
There is free parking around the Gammage, but if the lot fills there a parking garage within walking distance that happens to be free as well. There is also cafes on most levels offering wine, cocktails and other drinks, along with snacks too.
You know you’re about to have a fun night if you are headed to see a show at the Gammage!

I have had the chance to see several shows at Gammage and I can say this time was one of my better experiences. First I would like to say that the fact that there is an opportunity to see Broadway Shows here in AZ is something I am very thankful for. Gammage brings in some of the top running plays and I am always excited to see each years schedule. I have seen Lion King– amazing, Phantom, Wicked, Annie, Mary Poppins etc. and this week Cinderella!
What I found to be more pleasurable with my recent visit was the parking. I arrived about one hour to show time and was guided to the nearby parking structure. It is only a short block away from Gammage. I do remember in my past visits, if you didn’t arrive really early and get to park in the Gammage lot, you were in trouble and had to search the campus for parking… so to me, this new parking plan is a big deal (If you are handicapped, there is plenty of parking in the Gammage lot).
I was also very pleased with the ease at which the traffic flowed when leaving… I thought for sure there would be a long wait but to my surprise, this too was again managed and we were out of the garage and on the road in under 10 mins!
Seating is fairly typical of these types of venues. Our Cinderella seats were in row 10 which is the orch section. I think any seat in the orchestra section would be terrific. There are two balcony levels –the lowest is called grand tier and the highest is balcony. I have been in the balcony and for the price, these seats are decent. You are definitely high and feel far away but again they are substantially cheaper. The acoustics were good, in my opinion, in both sections.
I have read other reviews that mention the bathroom situation, and it is true that there are typically waits to use the facilities but the lines move quickly and to me is to be expected and not a deal breaker at all. They also serve snacks/​drilnks out in the lobby which is nice during intermission.
The location of Gammage is ideal as it is located in tempe on the ASU campus, so if you want to head to the show early and eat at a restaurant, there are PLENTY of nearby choices from Tempe Marketplace to the locations on Mill Ave.
One other note I would like to mention is the «what to a wear» question. You will find all different levels of dress from very dressed up to casual/​jeans. I like to be somewhere in the middle but it is nice to know that no matter the choice, you will fit right in.