Seahawks fans shed tickets to ‘Hello, Dolly’ at INB

For some Best of Broadway ticket holders, this week’s show is “Goodbye, Dolly.”

Or alternately, “Hello, Russell.”

That’s because the final two performances of “Hello, Dolly,” the Tony-winning musical starring Sally Struthers, coincide with the Seattle Seahawks’ first Super Bowl appearance in eight years.

Craigslist has a long list of tickets offered for sale, some at prices lower than the tickets’ face value.

Mike Durfee, season-ticket and group sales manager at WestCoast Entertainment, said season ticket holders always have the opportunity to swap their tickets for another performance – and they’re doing so.

“People are wanting to go Thursday, Friday or Saturday, absolutely,” he said. “They seem to enjoy the fact that the Seahawks are playing well.”

Don Bishop, a Best of Broadway season ticket holder for 15 years, said once it was set that Seattle was going to the Super Bowl, he knew he wanted to watch the game at home rather than watch Dolly Levi onstage at the INB Performing Arts Center.

“I went over (to Seattle) for the New Orleans game,” he said. “I’ve been a huge fan.”

He and his wife can’t exchange their tickets because they’re busy for the other performances, too. So far, they’ve had no nibbles on Craigslist, Bishop said.

Judy Walters bought tickets to “Hello, Dolly” before consulting the calendar and realizing it was Super Bowl Sunday.

“I bought them as a gift for a friend,” she said. “We’re both Seahawks fans. So when I found out I said, ‘What do you think?’ She said, ‘We’ve got to get rid of them,’ so we did.”

She sold them at a loss, she said, but it’s “better than being stuck with them.” Her friend will be coming to a Super Bowl party at Walters’ house.

Frank Tylock said he doesn’t care if he misses the game – “I can record it and watch it later” – but his daughter, who was supposed to attend the show with him, is a die-hard football fan.

He might sell the tickets, he said, or he might find someone else who’ll go with him.

Durfee, of WestCoast Entertainment, said he’s not worried about Struthers playing to an empty house for the Sunday matinee or the evening show at 6:30 p.m.

There are lots of people who aren’t football fans, he observed: “This allows more seats available and in some cases, better seats than would be available for a particular performance.”