[/media-credit]Ticket-buyers descended upon The Denver Center's box office this morning in search of passes to "The Book of Mormon." At 9:30 a.m. about 200 people waited, patrons estimated. But as the Web site began failing, the line grew until it coiled around the lobby of the Seawell Grand Ballroom, out the front door and down the complex's outdoor corridor.
Update: Tickets sold out at 2:35 p.m., said Heidi Bosk, publicity and promotions manager.
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts was crushed by theater-goers’ enthusiasm as soon as tickets went on sale for “The Book of Mormon” at 10 a.m. Sunday morning.
The Center’s website slowed to a crawl and the phone lines were bogged down with eager ticket-buyers’ repeated and failed attempts. Meanwhile, the line outside the box office downtown grew.
“This is kind of unprecedented,” said Jeff Hovorka, director of media and marketing for The Denver Center Attractions.
Just before 1 p.m., Heidi Bosk, publicity and promotions manager, said that they were down to single ticket availability. With 51,000 seats available for the short, three-week period, people said they were willing to stand in line until all hope was gone.
Tickets began popping up on eBay as a rumor started to spread on the Center’s Facebook page just after 1 p.m. that the show had sold out. One set of two tickets in the Mezzanine on an August Friday was up for sale on the online auction site for $1,025.
[/media-credit]In this March 16, 2011 photo, Trey Parker, right, and Matt Stone, co-creators of the Broadway show "The Book of Mormon," pose for a portrait outside the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in New York.
The theater sold tickets at between $35 and $125. Single seat tickets were still available as of 1:45 p.m.
Commenters on the Center’s Facebook page were less than kind about how ticket sales were handled.
“One of the most popular plays and they didn’t anticipate the requests for tickets? Whomever was responsible for this poor service should be reminded we are now in the 21st Century and then fired,” wrote a poster identifying herself as Janice Dow Blanchard Mendelson. “Poor service and poorly handled.”
Folks waiting in line were more patient.
“I’m still trying to order online, still have people calling,” Jonathan Powell, 32, of Denver said in line at the Denver Center shortly after 11 a.m. “It’s looking like tickets are going to sell out before I even get up there. So it looks like the phone and Internet are going to be our best option anyway.”
Powell, like many clamoring for tickets, isn’t a regular theater attendee, but he said he had heard positive reviews of the show and had even considered seeing it on Broadway while in New York City. But tickets were so expensive, he decided to wait until it came to Denver.
“We weren’t getting through at home, and I figured we were so close,” he said of his decision to wait in line. “It’s frustrating. But I think you’d get that from a lot of people down here.”
The Broadway hit, which has won nine Tony awards, opens its national tour in Denver Aug. 14-Sept. 2.
Adding to the theater fervor created by rave reviews, there is a strong local interest. The musical’s writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who are famous as the creators of the hit television show “South Park,” are Denver-area natives.