G-Mail Screen Customization

[Springtime]

I have a Droid 4 and am wondering if there is a way to customize my phone G-mail screen. Normal desk-top G-mail shows the sender first. Gmail screen on the phone shows the sender, in smaller font, under the first line(s) of the message. I always scan my e-mail by sender to see which ones I want to open and having the sender in a "second" position to the message line is irritating. I started using the E-Mail list app for opening up my mail. Love that format but.......can't seem to "star" conversations that I want to highlight, which I do all the time.

Anyway to either "star" in the e-mail list app or make the sender be the first line in the G-mail app?????