After a tumultuous two months filled with hurricane evacuees and postponed shows, the Baton Rouge River Center is ready to kick-off its Fall 2005 season in a big way.
Friday, comedian Jerry Seinfeld will perform not one, but two shows at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Not only will Seinfeld be performing as scheduled, but other events such as the 311 and 3 Doors Down concerts and WWE Raw Live have also been rescheduled for the upcoming months.
Alan Freeman, the general manager of the River Center, said the majority of the evacuees were relocated Friday with only a few dozen left who are special needs evacuees.
Freeman said the remaining evacuees are those who have limited mobility or mobility problems whose residences were not quite ready to house them last Friday. He said they will be out by Thursday and the Baton Rouge Symphony is scheduled to perform Thursday night.
With the national attention being given to the River Center, Baton Rouge could stand to benefit in the way of bigger acts and performers coming to the city.
“Obviously, our name has been out there,” Freeman said. “And that can’t hurt us any.”
Freeman also said with New Orleans in a “flux” right now, the River Center stands to, unfortunately, gain from the lack of venues in the Crescent City.
Freeman said while some shows have had to be canceled and the River Center has lost money, for the most part people have been very understanding and willing to work with Baton Rouge.
One example of cooperation is the River Center’s work with Jam Theatricals to offer student discount tickets to “The Full Monty,” an upcoming musical production.
Freeman said they have been working closely with Jam Theatricals and they have had several discussions about finally selling discounted tickets to students.
“We’re all getting on the same page now,” Freeman said. “A discounted ticket it better than an unsold one.”
Greg Avdoian, public relations manager for Jam Theatricals, said if it helps get more people involved in these productions, student tickets are definitely worth it.
“We wanted to reach out more to the community and the students,” Avdoian said.
Avdoian also said though it is on a show-by-show basis, they would like to offer more student tickets if it goes well for “The Full Monty.”
Contact Zachary Broussard at [email protected]