Michael Sample, of Mesa, graduated from ASU in May with two degrees - two bachelor's degrees in music education and vocal performance, plus a minor in theater.
Now, after three weeks of rehearsal, he is playing the lead role of Jimmy in the Tony Award-winning musical, "Thoroughly Modern Millie."
Sample, 23, starred in "Once Upon a Mattress," "Anything Goes" and "Dancing at Lughnasa" while he was at ASU. He also played the role of Lancelot in the Broadway Palm West Dinner Theater production of "Camelot" in Mesa.
Sample grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Fountain Hills. In elementary school he participated in school productions and was also active in sports, he said.
In junior high, however, his focus shifted to music.
"I started singing in a choir and really enjoyed that, so my interests started diverging in that direction," he said. "High school is when I really started doing theater. I went to a school with a really great program and just did a lot of shows, did a lot of plays in musical theater."
Sample added that part of the fun of live theater is the element of surprise.
"It's live and anything can happen at any given moment," he said. "I actually enjoy when things go wrong on stage, to a certain extent, because it is something fresh and new to work off of."
This love of the stage hasn't deterred him from acting in movies, though. Over the summer, Sample was in his first movie, "Captive," which he said he enjoyed doing.
Despite all of his acting gigs, Sample's ultimate career goal is not acting.
Doing productions is actually a side step, he said.
"About the last year of college, I took a step back and said, 'I really enjoy this performing thing, I think I'll give it a shot for a while.' I'm planning on going back to school and pursuing studies in ethnomusicology and choral music. It's a big passion of mine; a fire in my heart."
Sample plans on traveling to South America and studying tribal music, but not until he gets his fill of performing.
After "Thoroughly Modern Millie," Sample will be a part of a three-person show called "I Left My Heart;" a Tony Bennett review.
It will also be performed at the Phoenix Theatre.
"Thoroughly Modern Millie" is about a girl heading to the city wanting to make it big and find love, said Brian Kunnari, Phoenix Theatre's marketing manager. "Without giving too much away, she finds love in unexpected places."
He added that it is based on the 1967 movie with Julie Andrews, but the play debuted on Broadway in 2002.
"Thoroughly Modern Millie" is playing at the Phoenix Theatre until Oct. 8. The theater is located at 100 E. McDowell Road in Phoenix.
Reach the reporter at: jennifer.oconnor.1@asu.edu.
