High Demand For 'Hamilton' Crashes Ticket Website, Lottery Held Outside Theater
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Broadway musical "Hamilton" tried switching to an online "lottery" ticket system this week, to give their fans a chance to win tickets to see the hit show.
But due to the show's popularity and over 50,000 entries, the website crashed and left front row seats empty to last night's performance.
While the tickets run for only $10, prices ranged from $438 to a whopping $773 on the Ticketmaster resale site for Wednesday night's show. On StubHub, ticket prices ranged from $445 to $1,500.
On Wednesday, over 500 fans were once again on West 46th Street, waiting in front of the Richard Rodgers Theater in hopes they'd be one of the lucky winners of the ticket lottery known as "Ham4Ham," CBS2's Jill Nicolini reported.
Since the hip-hop musical about the nation's Founding Fathers began last August creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda has appeared outside the theater before his shows along with other cast members and special guests to not only give away 21 tickets for $10 each, but to also perform for fans.
"Lin is just absolutely brilliant, and the music is like no other show that's on Broadway right now so it really is quite unique and fabulous," Crystal Cimaglia, of Deer Park, said.
A Hamilton spokesperson said "as soon as the Broadway Direct website can be refitted to meet the incredible demand, Hamilton will, indeed, return to digital."
Miranda also posted on his Twitter feed, saying that high demands for tickets also crashed the phone lines that set up group sales for the show's upcoming Chicago run.
Some people have complained about the traffic and potential danger this massive crowd can cause.
The NYPD said they have been working closely with Hamilton producers and they "...will have an adequate amount of officers assigned to the vicinity of 46th street for the live lottery going forward..."
Hamilton officials also said the they will "keep patrons apprised via social media and on the Hamilton website when the online lottery is back up and running."
