Hamilton tickets on sale... for £6,000!
IT IS billed as the biggest new show for years – so big that some tickets are said to be changing hands for as much as £6,000.
But those turning up to see Hamilton with seats bought on secondary ticket websites face being greatly disappointed – no matter how much they paid.
Production company Delfont Mackintosh has banned all resold tickets in an effort to thwart touts who stand to make massive profits.
The hip-hop musical, the talk of Broadway, opens at the Victoria Palace Theatre in the West End this month and the sixmonth run is almost sold out.
Official ticket prices range from £10 to £200, and rather than being issued with traditional tickets, theatregoers must show their payment card, email confirmation and official ID to gain entry.
Despite this clampdown, a number of ‘ illegal’ resale tickets have surfaced through the controversial Viagogo online site. The most expensive ticket reported to have been available in recent days was £5,905, including VAT and a booking fee.
Last year, Hamilton was nominated for a record 16 Tony awards – winning 11 – as well as picking up a Grammy for best musical theatre album and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama said the show was ‘simply the best piece of art in any form that I have ever seen in my life’.
Previews in London began last Thursday and the musical has its official opening night on December 21. The West End show stars Jamael Westman as Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States.
Hamilton was an immigrant from the Caribbean who went on to serve under George Washington in the revolutionary wars and was America’s first Treasury Secretary.
Westman, 25, graduated from the Royal School of Dramatic Arts only last year and if initial audience reaction is anything to go by, his career is set to take off. But it was a very different story when his grandfather Barry Hermitt arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 1953.
He was refused housing and saw his ambitions to become an engineer blocked, forcing him to turn to building work.
But more than 60 years later, Mr Hermitt, 89, saw his grandson receive a rapturous ovation at a preview performance last week.
He said he was delighted Jamael was able to take advantage of the opportunities denied to him because of his race two generations earlier.
‘When I came here I wanted my children to have the benefits of a better life and I’m so happy of what Jamael has achieved, because lots of us didn’t have that opportunity,’ he said.
Mr Hermitt, who lives in south London, described his grandson’s performance in the coveted role as ‘brilliant’.
‘He had so many lines to learn and he remembered them all,’ he said.
‘If I could afford it, I would go back to see it again.’
‘If I could afford it, I’d see it again’