Hamilton prices skyrocketing?WTF

[northlandfan]

Posted: 3/7/16 at 9:51pm

Has anyone noticed the price on stubhub has almost doubled for most seats in the theater. Having seen the show in early January and paying premium prices at $477 I thought this was extremely expensive but in hindsight it was worth the price considering all the principles were in the show and the show was breathtaking and unforgettable. At that time rear mezzanine seats were going for approximately three to $400 on stub hub which I felt were outrageous prices at the time. Now I see those same crappy seats going for close to $1000. Does anybody really pay this amount for rear mezzanine. I actually feel Lucky to have sat eighth row center at $477 because now the same seats seem to be going to close to $2000. What on earth is going on. Can you imagine what will happen after the Tonys!

does anyone think this bubble will ever burst while the original cast is still on the show?

[NYadgal]

Posted: 3/7/16 at 9:52pm

Supply.  Demand.  

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/7/16 at 9:57pm

And greedy scalpers.  But this has been going on for quite a while.  I'm sure some people do pay it, but we've also heard people dropping their ticket price just before curtain if it hasn't sold.  I'd like to see the whole lot of scalpers get caught with gads of tickets that no one will purchase.  

 

I won't do it.  I've seen the show twice, and am holding tix for a third time in July.  Twice I got tix through Telecharge (or Ticketmaster -- I can never keep them straight.) and once directly at the box office.

[Cupid Boy2]

Posted: 3/7/16 at 10:08pm

With people now lining up the night before the box office opens for cancellation tickets, I can't say I'm surprised. 

[northlandfan]

Posted: 3/7/16 at 10:16pm

I find it simply amazing that I haven't been able to stop listening to the CD on a daily basis humming many songs at home at work and even using some of the lingo when I speak to people at the office. I have searched for the lyrics on genius and must say after one month of listening I pretty much know the lyrics to most of the songs .Has this happened to many people who own the CD. I feel as though Lin has invaded my brain for which there seems to be no cure in sight! Will call it the Maranda virus!

Better than the Zika of virus that's for sure...

[evic]

Posted: 3/7/16 at 10:18pm

Well, Hamilton was first Sec'y of the Treasury after all.  If you don't like it, go down to Trinity Church at the head of Wall Street and overturn his tombstone in the cemetery there and curse him for causing this in the first place.  Love the score but I can wait 10 years to see it.  Rather spend my money on a vacation.

[Hellob]

Posted: 3/7/16 at 10:30pm

I'm not even sure prices are dropping near curtain anymore. Many day of have very few tickets remaining with many hours left. Whether they were sold or removed, idk.

 The Grammys have made it insane, with fees, it's easily 4K for 2 orchestra seats and that's the lower end. The rear mezzanine are going for what orchestra were last fall. The power scalpers must be getting so rich. A thousand tickets could net over a million at the $477 but 2-3 million at the lower rate. Crazy

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/7/16 at 11:15pm

The bottom will drop out when there's full cast turnover.

[vdirects]

Posted: 3/7/16 at 11:21pm

A) You're super late

 

B) Basic supply and demand. The higher the demand and the lower the supply, the higher the prices. You charge what people are willing to pay, and there are some people who will pay that amount for tix to see the greatest show on earth right now.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/7/16 at 11:27pm

The most messed up thing is the way the ridiculously inflated resale prices make $477 a seat seem reasonable by comparison.

 

But that's free market capitalism and nobody ever said THAT was fair.

[Cupid Boy2]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 12:02am

I saw the show last week through the lottery, and the man behind me was bragging to his friends that an acquantiance of his has made $2 to $3 million by scalping Hamilton tickets. He claimed the guy had bought around 200 tickets to each performance last summer when the box office first opened. In the moment, it seemed hard to believe, but with the way things are going, maybe it's not all that far fetched. Perhaps the power here really is in the hands of a few key scalpers. 

[Hellob]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 12:24am

If he made a $300 profit per ticket, it would take 10k tickets to pull 3 million. It's definitely doable but he'd have to have 2 million or so in advance to buy the tickets. These days he could profit 3 million with a little under 5k tickets. I guess you'd have to join up with a few people since that's still a lot of capital. But there are definitely some people who can probably retire from a year of this if they played it right. 

Eta I'm basing on highest price at the time, obviously less tickets/investment to earn money if lower priced tickets 

Updated On: 3/8/16 at 12:24 AM

[Hellob]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 12:26am

FindingNamo said: "The bottom will drop out when there's full cast turnover.

 

"

Agreed. I don't think it's a BOM/Wicked situation. 

[vdirects]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 1:17am

Yeah, that guy was probably exaggerating, trying to sound cool and interesting.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 2:50am

Hard to say if he'd be more of an asshole if it were true, or if he were making it up. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 6:58am

Hellob said: "FindingNamo said: "The bottom will drop out when there's full cast turnover.

 

 

 

"

 

Agreed. I don't think it's a BOM/Wicked situation. 

 

"

I disagree.  This isn't about specific actors, it's about the show and the concept.  It's going to be a hard tix to get for a while.  

[After Eight]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 7:55am

"I find it simply amazing that I haven't been able to stop listening to the CD on a daily basis humming many songs at home at work and even using some of the lingo when I speak to people at the office."

 

I wonder how greatly that pleases your co-workers.

 

Here is an instance where I believe that old adage definitely applies: Silence is golden.

 

 

 

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 7:57am

Was that the sound of someone finding joy in a contemporary musical? Take it away, After Eight! 

[JM226]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 8:13am

i feel like this is going to be a weekly occurrence on a website like this. people still dont understand the basic principles of free market capitalism + supply & demand economics. whether you're a fan or not, that is what our economy is more or less built on.  not sure what more can be said about the topic. 

[Dave19]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 8:33am

If  the friend of that guy already owns 200 tickets per show, and probably many other scalpers do the same thing, then a very low percentage is actually sold to normal customers.

 

The theatre and producers need to do something about this. It's not only the fact that they sell the tickets for much higher prices, but also the fact that the biggest part of sold tickets are in their hands. So they are taking over the business, taking away the control of the production.

Updated On: 3/8/16 at 08:33 AM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 8:52am

The saddest part is that the people who would benefit the most from seeing a show like this are being left out. The most shocking part of seeing the show last week was noticing that I was one of two people of color that I saw in the audience while in the lobby before the show, during intermission, and when I sat. Really, it was a room full of older rich white people and their bratty teenagers who thought the show was "so cool." That to me is extremely unfortunate.

 

How do you avoid scalping though? Do you limit people to two tickets per IP address? I feel like scalpers, especially NY-based ones, will find their way around something like that. The other day I saw about 10 tickets in the same row being sold by the same person. It really pisses me off.

[mc1227]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 9:10am

Broadway is no different than any other business.  People with money will enjoy the finer things in life and others will not.  It will not change anyone's life if they don't get to see Hamilton, regardless of their color.  We tend to get carried away about the importance of a show including the inequity of our lives.  Instead of hating people for what they have, the focus should be how to be resourceful to get the things you want.   I saw Hamilton for $77 because I bought the ticket two months before it opened and waitied 5 months to see it..  I'm not rich, far from it, so I became resourceful.  I would never pay the money( even if I had it)  that people are paying to see this show. It's like these idiots who wait in line for 3 days to get the new iPhone or a new Star Wars movie.   In the large scheme of life, it's not that important.  I saw it, really liked it, but at the end of the day, I still have to get up and go to work everyday.  I don't have time to pout about what other people can do that I can't.  

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 9:35am

Okay everyone, there's our answer, art isn't actually important and it doesn't matter who has access to it. Case closed. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 9:45am

Lol

[Hellob]

Posted: 3/8/16 at 10:02am

dramamama611 said: "Hellob said: "FindingNamo said: "The bottom will drop out when there's full cast turnover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"

 

 

 

Agreed. I don't think it's a BOM/Wicked situation. 

 

 

 

"

 

I disagree.  This isn't about specific actors, it's about the show and the concept.  It's going to be a hard tix to get for a while.  

 

"

I don't think that the place will be empty but I don't think the prices are going to stay up there and eventually it will slow down. I don't think it's going to have a decade sell out run. But I could be wrong.