Hamilton Resale Tickets

[k-ron78]

Posted: 12/31/15 at 1:33pm

I was looking at the Ticketmaster availability for Saturday January 30.  Not surprisingly, only resale tickets were available.  It appears that there are about 25 tickets available in the first six rows of the center orchestra section... all of them priced at about $1,500-1,600.  Lots of others are available as well, but I'm focused on these.

Setting aside all questions as to how so many prime tickets came into the hands of re-sellers, my two remaining questions are: 1) do people actually pay this kind of money to see this show, and 2) if the tickets are not sold in advance, are these high dollar transactions being conducted outside the theater just before showtime by scalpers?

 

[Dave13]

Posted: 12/31/15 at 2:19pm

The simple answer is yes and no. Some pay those prices, as many wealthy people will not blink twice about paying those prices. 

Others will not be sold until the prices drop. The prices drop as the date get closer. Nonetheless, the scalpers are making a fortune. 

[indytallguy]

Posted: 12/31/15 at 5:18pm

Check an hour or two before curtain on the same date and see what they are selling any remaining seats for.  When I've tracked resale on a date I wanted to attend, they often have dropped dramatically when the ticket is about to perish.  I got a mid-orchestra seat on a Thursday night that had been listed originally for $929 for $297.  Still offensive, but less so.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/1/16 at 11:11am

k-ron78 said: "Setting aside all questions as to how so many prime tickets came into the hands of re-sellers, my two remaining questions are: 1) do people actually pay this kind of money to see this show, and 2) if the tickets are not sold in advance, are these high dollar transactions being conducted outside the theater just before showtime by scalpers?"

 

How they came into the hands of resellers is easy, too: they bought them. Also, anyone can be a reseller these days. For expensive shows with high resale value, I've been known to buy three tickets and sell two for the cost of the three. Ticketmaster and technology has made it easy for everyone to be a scalper.

 

That said, people do pay that sort of money, and those prices will change all the time if people refuse to buy them. I almost went to see a show this week where the $125 ticket was listed for $175, but a half hour to show time, they finally reduced it to $50.

 

At some point in the future, there will be a delightful overlap where ticket resellers will have overanticipated how long Hamilton's golden age of reselling will endure, and there will be LOTS of deals. And at that point, Hamilton will only be able to sell out the theater at list price with a few premiums.