Broadway smash Hamilton is finally coming to the UK, arriving for a seventh month stint at the Victoria Palace Theatre from November this year. If you’ve spent your lunch time wondering why your colleagues have been getting quite so frustrated at the interminable online ticket queue, here’s your cheat sheet explaining exactly what the fuss is all about….
What’s Hamilton all about?
Put simply, Hamilton is a musical about Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States, with one of the most culturally diverse casts that Broadway has ever seen. Hamilton’s story is told through a mash-up of musical genres, with songs borrowing from everything from classic show tunes to hip hop, while creator and writer Lin Manuel-Miranda has peppered his lyrics with enough pop-culture references to dust off this slice of American history and bring it into the twenty-first century.
Since its debut in January 2015, the show has received a record-breaking 16 Tony nominations, winning 11, earned a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and spawned a spin-off mixtape featuring famous fans like Alicia Keys, John Legend and Regina Spektor. In 2017, it will tour the US and open in London’s West End, produced by theatre supremo Cameron Mackintosh.
If you don’t think that sounds like the most gripping premise for a two-and-three-quarter-hour show, we raise you Les Miserables: the West End’s longest-running musical takes its cues from a student revolution in 19th century France and an ex-con sent down for stealing a loaf of bread. Like Les Mis, Hamilton is a sung-through musical – meaning it has almost no spoken dialogue, with the story told entirely through song.
Where and when will it run, and how much will it cost?
Right now, performances are scheduled at the Victoria Palace Theatre – formerly home to Billy Elliot - from November 21st until 30th June 2018. Tickets in the preview period (which lasts from opening night until December 6th) are slightly cheaper, priced at £32.50, £47.50 or £79.50, with premium seats at £127.50 or £190); prices then rise to £37.50, £57.50 or £89.50, with premium at £137.50 and £200.
Any chance of anything cheaper?
Like many West End shows, Hamilton will operate not one but two ‘lottery’ schemes. Once the box office opens at the Victoria Palace Theatre (which is currently under renovation), you’ll be able to join the daily ticket lottery, where seats are priced at £20. Each week, a lottery will also take place online for performances the following week; potentially more convenient but pricier at £37.50. With both, you’ll be limited to two tickets per person, so pick your Hamilton companion wisely…
What’s the deal with paperless ticketing?
Over on Broadway, Hamilton’s success has had one major down side: the show has been hit with a major tout problem, and you’ve doubtless seen headlines about tickets going for thousands of dollars. To stop this from happening in the West End, the Victoria Palace Theatre has introduced a new paperless ticketing system. This means you won’t be sent a physical ticket before the performance: instead, you’ll have to present the card you paid with and some valid photo ID when you arrive at the theatre. A bit of a faff, yes, but it’ll surely be worth it in the long run to ensure you don’t have to re-mortgage your house in order to bag tickets.
What if I haven’t been able to buy tickets this time?
The Hamilton website promises that another batch of tickets will be released in early Autumn, so it’s worth following the show on Twitter and Facebook to make sure you’re the first to receive updates. Until then, there’s always the Broadway cast recording on Spotify (sigh…)
Who’s in the West End cast?
Ahead of the ticket release, the first round of Hamilton castings has just been announced, with Rachel John as Angelica Schuyler and Rachelle Ann Go (who has previously starred in the West End productions of Les Mis and Miss Saigon) in the role of Eliza, Hamilton’s wife. The actors taking the parts of King George and Hamilton himself are yet to be revealed, meaning that the question we’re all asking is…
Will Lin-Manuel Miranda be starring?
YES, he will. Legendary theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh confirmed to The Telegraph last year that the show’s creator (who stepped down from the Broadway show to work on Disney’s Mary Poppins sequel) will be returning for the London run. What’s not yet clear, though, is when exactly Miranda will be reprising the lead role. So far, all he has said on the subject is ‘the support Hamilton has received from our British fans has been incredible – I have been reminded of their love, which is just as our King George would want it to be!’ Hmm.
What about the Trump Twitter-storm?
The show’s cast found themselves embroiled in a Twitter drama with the then-President Elect when, after noticing VP Mike Pence in the audience, actor Brandon Dixon read out a statement voicing their concerns about Trump’s presidency, describing themselves as ‘the diverse Americans who are alarmed and anxious that [the] new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents.’
‘We hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and work on behalf of all of us,’ he continued, before thanking Pence for ‘sharing this wonderful American story, told by a diverse group of men and women of different colours, creeds and orientations.’
Trump’s response? To fire off the following missive, complete with the demand: ‘Apologize!’ Never has the eye roll emoji been more appropriate...
It’s fair to say, though, that Trump’s ire hasn’t exactly harmed the show: the cast’s speech was met with applause, both real and virtual.