River Campus selling out fast

Want to see Hal Holbrook perform as Mark Twain during the inaugural season of the River Campus? If so, you'd better hurry.

Tickets for the touring, theater and dance and symphony shows that will comprise the first season at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus have been selling fast since they became available to the public last month. The most popular show, "Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight!", is almost sold out (only about 20 are left), even though Holbrook won't take the stage until April 26.

"The response has been overwhelming," said Robert Cerchio, River Campus assistant director.

Overwhelming might be an understatement.

In May Cerchio said he was expecting to sell about 300 season tickets. As of early Tuesday afternoon, over 2,300 season tickets had been sold for the variety of River Campus entertainment, from touring acts like Holbrook to Southeast theater and dance production to Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra performances. Season tickets are sold a number of ways: patrons can buy season tickets for a single series (touring, theater and dance or symphony) or they can buy "master" tickets, good for every show.

Of those 2,300, 807 touring series season tickets have been sold, 833 theater and dance season tickets and 677 symphony series tickets. The Bedell Performance Hall, where most shows will take place, seats 952. Another 481 master series tickets have been sold (master numbers are counted in other series sales).

Season ticket sales numbers could be deceiving in some cases, Cerchio said, since some shows -- primarily those produced by the university's theater and dance department -- have multiple show dates. Regardless, Cerchio said ticket sales thus far, three months before the Bedell's first show, are far better than expected.

"It exceeded everybody's expectations," Cerchio said.