It must be nice to have an unlimited amount of Washingtons on your side

March 9, 2016 10:02 PM

If one wanted to see Hamilton on Broadway before the original cast leaves, what is the easiest AND cheapest way to go about it?

This would be a bucket list sort of thing for me, and I'm willing to possibly throw a few hundred dollars at a ticket, but not the $600+ numbers I'm seeing when clicking random dates on the ticketmaster website. So my questions are:

1. I'm assuming the resale tickets through ticketmaster are the way to go to avoid scams?

2. Is there a way to search which dates have the lowest resale ticket prices, other than just clicking day by day?

3. I know to check which days have alternates performing roles before I buy tickets, but what else am I not thinking of?

posted by MsMolly to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

I've seen cheaper tickets on StubHub than Ticketmaster. There have been scams on StubHub apparently, though StubHub claims to guarentee the tickets. Note that StubHub doesn't show the fees by default (I think Ticketmaster does the same), so you'll want to turn that option on or you'll have a misleading idea of the cost. I personally bought a ticket on StubHub, and while I held my breath when they scanned it at the door, it was perfectly valid. The search UI is a bit better than Ticketmaster too.

Looking at StubHub now, I see a few late April dates where you might be able to get it done for closer to $500 all in with the fees. Someone else may know of a reason why those are days to be avoided though.

Also, when I was doing this, I noticed that many tickets were only available in pairs, especially for the ones listed on Ticketmaster. It may help to find a buddy if you can and get a pair for a lower per-ticket price.

Remember that Javier Muñoz plays Ham on Sundays. And the cancellation line.

Beyond that, there's always the lottery.
posted by zachlipton at 10:53 PM on March 9, 2016

Actually, Muñoz is doing some Saturdays in April. There's a list on the Hamilton website. He's supposed to be fantastic though.
posted by zachlipton at 10:58 PM on March 9, 2016

My girlfriend and I saw Hamilton when we were in New York for Christmas. I stood in line for the lottery a couple of nights (our hotel was literally just around the corner, so this wasn't a hassle) but came up short. The odds are long: 100-200 people for maybe 10 tickets. On the last night, I decided that I was willing to fork over big bucks to see the show. So, immediately after losing the lottery again, I walked around the corner to the hotel and used a lobby computer to buy tickets from StubHub. I can't remember what I paid but I think it was roughly $480 per. I do remember these were the cheapest tickets remaining by far. (I bought them maybe two hours before curtain.)

So, no real advice but a real-life datapoint for you.
posted by jdroth at 4:11 AM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Reminder for you and anyone reading this question in the future: Do not buy Hamilton tickets on Craigslist.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:34 AM on March 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Cancellation line is the most reliable way to do it.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:49 AM on March 10, 2016

Buying on holidays and via StubHub is the way to go. When my husband picked mine up it was $130, including the fee.
posted by corb at 9:27 AM on March 10, 2016

Demand is through the roof since they won a Grammy. It will only get worse over the summer, especially after high schools and colleges get out, and tourist season starts. And after they win basically all the Tonys.

I'd pay a professional line sitter to wait in the cancellation line. It can actually be much cheaper than Stubhub and Ticketmaster.

Make sure you read the Reddit.com FAQs about the cancellation line. The phrase "cancellation line" is a misnomer since it's often unused house / unclaimed lottery tickets. You can also get standing room only tickets this way.

My brother just did this yesterday with his wife. They chose a Wednesday since it's a) a weekday and b) a two show day. Paid a professional line sitting service (Same Ole Line Dudes) to get in line at 2:30am - this service literally does this every day. Paid $80 for 4 hours. Swapped out at 6:30am. Got into the matinee via the cancellation line. Got 7th row seats in the orchestra, only paid $167 each. They were 7th in line and some of the folks ahead of them only wanted the evening show, and passed on matinee tix.

I am guessing that Wednesday matinees are the "least" popular time slots. Most of the original cast was there but Chris Jackson was out because of illness and Okieriete Onaodowan's understudy was playing Hercules Mulligan/James Madison.

I've seen both LMM and Javier Muñoz play Hamilton. They're both great. Javier has a nicer singing voice than Lin, but Lin is stronger at the raps (which makes sense since he, uh, wrote them).
posted by kathryn at 8:38 PM on March 10, 2016 [2 favorites]