Here's a bit of news for New Yorkers to grind their teeth over. More than 2,000 tickets to Jerry Seinfeld's July 24 and 25, pre-Broadway concerts in Omaha, Nebraska, were given away. According to an Associated Press report, the comedian failed to sell out his four-concert gig before show time. Desiring full houses, Contemporary Productions of Kansas City, MO, decided to hand out the idle ducats, which were priced over $60. Even after the giveaway, 300 tickets remained. Tickets to Seinfeld's ten Broadway concerts went on sale 10 AM July 23 and were gone by 3:30 PM, said publicist Merle Frimark's office. Demand for the comedian's Aug. 5-9 one-man Broadway engagement was so great that, before noon, a second phone line had to be created to accommodate incoming calls.
Seinfeld is preceding the New York concert series with what may amount to the most far-flung pre-Broadway tour in history. He began with a booking in Australia, where he staged a handful of June performances in Melbourne and Sydney. The globe-trotting comic followed that booking with dates in Sweden (July 3-4), Iceland (July 8-9), London (July 12) and San Antonio, TX (July 17-19 at the Majestic Theatre.
One more pre Broadway date is planned: Des Moines (July 31-Aug. 1 at the Civic Center).