On a bet that Hamilton will remain red hot after composer Lin-Manuel Miranda leaves the cast and a second company opens in Chicago, Broadway producers raised the top ticket price by $300 to a record $849.
The tickets are offered to American Express cardholders for performances at the Richard Rodgers Theatre from Jan. 31 to May 21, 2017. The production’s charging $849 for as far back as the 17th row of the orchestra. For now, that’s below market. Even after July 9, when Miranda leaves the title role, tickets are offered for resale for more than $4,000 via Ticketmaster. Hamilton begins performances in Chicago on Sept. 27 at the PrivateBank Theatre.
After rising every year for decades, the average Broadway ticket this past season declined by $1.07 to $103.11. That was due to weak demand for plays. The previous Broadway ticket record was $549, for Hamilton, with the new price up 55 percent. The Book of Mormon’s most expensive seat is $477.
The Amex presale is for “Centurion” and “Platinum” cardholders. Yesterday, Miranda published an op-ed in the New York Times urging the state assembly to pass a bill making it a crime for brokers to knowingly resell or offer for resale tickets purchased with automated software known as “bots.”
