It was a good-night kind of day after all. My daughter and I headed to Tempe for dinner and a show — burgers first, a beast second — and didn’t roll back in the door until eleven. Our friend Khan joined us for the whole evening, which made it that much better — and her husband Giorgio came along for the dinner half.

🍔 Dinner First — The Chuckbox

We parked at the Fulton Center visitor garage — no drama at all, and it turned out to be the perfect home base, an easy walk to both dinner and the theater, right through the heart of the ASU campus. Then we met up with Khan and Giorgio at the Chuckbox, the old-school Tempe burger joint that’s been feeding ASU students and families alike since the ’50s — griddled patties, paper plates, no pretense. Charlotte parked herself right at the counter glass to watch the grill work.

Watching the grill at the Chuckbox Front-row seat to the griddle at the Chuckbox.

Good fuel before two-plus hours in a theater seat. Giorgio tapped out after dinner — the burgers he was in for, the ballgowns he left to us.

🌹 The 7:30 Curtain — Beauty and the Beast at Gammage

From there it was a short hop to ASU Gammage for the 7:30 show — Beauty and the Beast, the full Broadway-touring production, under Frank Lloyd Wright’s last major public building. The lobby had gone all in on the theme, roses and all.

Beauty and the Beast lobby display, a wall of red roses around the show’s title The rose wall in the Gammage lobby.

The selfie on the stairs says it all — blurry, both of us grinning, exactly what a good night looks like.

On the stairs at Gammage before the show Pre-show selfie on the Gammage stairs.

Charlotte and Khan got their own seat selfie in before the lights went down.

Charlotte and Khan settled into their seats Charlotte and Khan, ready for curtain.

Then the house lights dropped and the Beast’s silhouette rose against the blue, and the whole packed room went quiet at once. Charlotte didn’t really know the music going in — but it didn’t matter one bit. The sword fights, the wolf chase, the mob storming the castle — she was locked in for every second of the action.

The Beast’s silhouette lit up on the Gammage stage before curtain The last quiet second before curtain.

🍫 Intermission

An ice cream bar and a good excuse to compare notes on Act One — this is the good part of a two-act show.

Working on an intermission treat Intermission priorities.

Dad and daughter in the lobby at intermission Halfway through, still going strong.

Then back in for Act Two — same silhouette, same blue light, second helping.

The stage lit up again for Act Two Act Two, same spot, same chills.

✅ How It Actually Went

  • Parking near Gammage before the pre-show crowd — Fulton Center garage, central to everything, and a great walk through campus
  • Grab a program and a snack at intermission — both, ice cream bar included
  • Get a photo under the marquee before curtain — got the stairs and the rose wall instead, and they’re better

We got home well past bedtime — close to eleven. Snapped the playbill before turning in.

The Beauty and the Beast playbill, photographed at home Still holding the playbill at eleven o'clock.

Yippee-ki-yay — some nights just run long, and you don’t mind one bit.