Hamilton is a recordbreaker. From its chart-topping cast album to its Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Lin-Manuel Miranda juggernaut has become a cultural phenomenon. It’s even in the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest-ever rap on a Broadway stage, and most Tony Award nominations for a musical. And now it’s added another, slightly less enviable accolade: it has the most expensive tickets in Broadway history.
That’s all thanks to Leslie Odom Jr., who is reprising his Tony Award-winning performance as Aaron Burr until 26 November. If you want to be in the room where it happens, it’ll set you back $1,525.50 (£1,116.78). That’s for a single seat in Row K, not a private performance. It’s enough to make King George blush.
So it got us wondering: how many West End shows could we see for the same price? If you can’t be bothered to read the rest of the article, the answer is: a lot.
To keep things fair, we’ve compared like-for-like. In London, the very best Hamilton ticket will set you back £212 for Row E. If you were happy to sit in Row K, the very same row as the Broadway seat listed above, you’d pay £164, £952.78 less than across the pond.
From there, the bargains just keep rolling in: want to see how the witches’ story ends before the film hits cinemas? Wicked is £160 in Row F. If you prefer something a little less family-friendly but packed with wicked humour of its own, The Book of Mormon tickets go for £152 in Row E. Prefer hell to heaven? Hadestown offers seats in the middle of Row G, and right in the centre of the Dress Circle’s front row, for £152.
The most recent revival of The Producers has earned five-star reviews across the board, and you can watch it unfold from Row D or the Dress Circle front row for £128. For sheer spectacle, Starlight Express delivers: £182 gets you into Row CC of Carriage 2, close enough to the racetrack to high-five the cast as they skate by in the finale megamix. And finally, you can see Disney’s latest herculean hit, Hercules, from Row D for £121.
Add them all up and you’ve got seven West End shows in the best seats in the house for £1,107. You’ll even have £9.78 left over for a couple of interval ice creams.