By Joan Marcus
“Hamilton” is an amazing show, so it’s no surprise that everyone wants to experience it firsthand -- the cast recording can only satisfy for so long. Because of this demand (and the fact that the theater only has 1,400 seats per show), tickets are expensive. Here are our seven tips for getting your tickets at the best possible price:
1. Enter the digital lottery. You might win, but if you do, you need to see the show on that same day. So this is not usually a good option for most people. [Digital lottery details]
2. Wait a while. Broadway ticket prices obey the laws of supply and demand, so “Hamilton” ticket prices will inevitably decline over time. The good news is that the show’s quality will probably remain very high. Long-running shows, such as “The Lion King” and “Wicked”, have continued to wow audiences for years.
3. Call in a favor. Depending on your situation, your lawyer, banker, accountant, or realtor may be looking for a way to thank you for your business. Never hurts to ask!
4. Go to the online box office and look for tickets. Despite regularly selling out, seats are sometimes miraculously available directly from the box office. For example, on Valentine’s Day this year we found a pair of great center orchestra seats for $350 each! [Hamilton box office]
5. Check StubHub. StubHub works like eBay (which owns StubHub) -- sellers list their tickets, and you can buy the tickets using the online platform. The key is to make sure the tickets aren't fake, and that you get them on time. StubHub has very strong customer service and consumer protections in place, which is partly why they are the market leader. In addition, StubHub is sometimes cheaper than Ticketmaster resale, since Ticketmaster resale puts limits on how low the price can go relative to the face value of the ticket.
6. Look for “Verified Resale Tickets” on Ticketmaster.com. “Resale” means that someone else bought these tickets, and is now reselling them. “Verified” means that Ticketmaster guarantees that the tickets are legitimate. This is a key point, since there are MANY scams related to Broadway tickets. [Your best bet is to buy “resale” tickets directly from Ticketmaster.]
The following screenshot from the Feb 20, 2018 7pm performance is a great example of how this works:
On Ticketmaster, the blue dots mean that the seat is being sold directly by the show’s box office -- in this case for $749 each + fees. The purple dots mean that the seats are being sold by a verified seller -- in this case for $401 each + fees. Luckily, Ticketmaster lets you search for both “box office” and “verified” seats at the same time.
7. Call a ticket broker. Many communities have local ticket brokers, and there are even more online. The advantage of calling them is that they do the sleuthing for you, typically by searching the sites we’ve listed above. In other words, it is VERY rare that a ticket broker will have access to seats that you can’t find listed on the major resale sites yourself. Of course, for the convenience of having someone do the online searching for you, you’ll pay a hefty service charge.
The bottom line is that it’s actually pretty easy to get “Hamilton” tickets, provided you are ready to pony up for the privilege of seeing something truly amazing!
Do you have other tips for finding “Hamilton” tickets? Did we get something wrong? Please help your fellow theater fans by commenting below. We’ll update the article and credit you!