Can't Afford To See "Hamilton" On Broadway? We've Got Some Options For You...

Lin-Manuel Miranda's rap musical about the life and death of Alexander Hamilton is virtually impossible to get tickets for, but there are some alternatives to spending hundreds of dollars to enjoy the show...

We all know Lin-Manuel Miranda is a genius and his hit Broadway show Hamilton, a hip hop musical about the life and death of our youngest founding father, is a masterpiece.

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Just you wait...

His first Broadway production, In The Heights, premiered in 2008 and went on to win four Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

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The show brought him into the spotlight of not only Broadway but also the world of hip hop, bridging the gap between the two genres.

After this success, the discovery of a Hamilton biography would lead to a performance at the "White House Poetry Jam" in 2009 for the President, First Lady, and invited guests...

youtube.com / Via youtube.com

While on vacation break from In The Heights, Miranda picked up a copy of a Hamilton biography by Ron Chernow and was surprised by all the accomplishments made and trouble caused by the Secretary of Treasury. He decided to name his project The Hamilton Mixtape, a hip hop album, and premiered the first track with a live performance at the White House during a night of poetry, music, and spoken word. It went over well...

Six years later, the album had manifested into a fully formed musical juggernaut, premiering Off-Broadway in February of 2015 and then Broadway later that Summer.

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Tickets for performances immediately starting selling out from word-of-mouth and increased when the Original Cast Recording was released in the Fall.

So, how do you see this epic show? Here are some suggestions if you're strapped for cash or don't live near NYC…

1. The #ham4ham Lottery

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As with most Broadway shows, a small lottery of tickets was offered before every performance as an opportunity to see the show at a highly discounted price. This lead to a daily mob of hopeful fans larger than the normal show, and #ham4ham was born. Fans could put their name in a lottery at a chance for a front row seat of that day's performance. Winners only pay ten dollars (a "Hamilton", if you will) to see the show. Because of the high demand, people were arriving early in the day and waiting hours for just the small chance at cheap tickets. To reward their patience, Lin-Manuel and the cast decided to start entertaining the awaiting groups with casual performances of songs from their show as well as others, even bringing in celebrities from outside the production to help. Many of them have been recorded, they are all amazing, and you can find them on the twitter tag #ham4ham.

The size of the crowds waiting eventually got to be so large, for the safety of those waiting and those just trying to walk down the street, it was announced that #ham4ham was going temporarily digital. And then Hamilton broke the internet.

Via wsj.com

The very first day the lottery tickets were offered online, the response was so large it brought in a record 50,000 entries and eventually crashed the website. The overwhelming demand for these online lottery tickets was (strangely) unanticipated and it was decided that to be fair, the seats for that performance would not be given out. Since then, the lottery has gone back to being live in front of the theater until the website can be reconfigured to handle the traffic. If you live close by, the lottery starts 2.5 hours before the show and names are drawn 2 hours before curtain. Once it officially goes back to being held online, you can go to https://lottery.broadwaydirect.com/hamilton/ and enter your name (along with 10,000 other people), cross your fingers, and hope lady luck is on your side. This can be especially useful to those who live close enough that if they win, can make last minute arrangements to head into the city for the experience of a lifetime.

2. Listen to the Original Cast Recording or better yet, check out this Visual Companion for the Album...

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The Grammy-Nominated Cast Album was released in September of 2015 to enormous praise and 5 stars on iTunes reviews, and recently Lin-Manuel teamed up with Atlantic Records and Genius.com to create a lyrics website that features annotations for specific lyrics so you can learn more about the songs and their lyrical origins. If you are curious what the characters singing these parts look like from the Original Broadway Cast, the video above features images and lyrics so you can follow along with the music and story. Just like seeing it live! (Not really but it's the next best thing) The first track from the album is all thats currently available in this format but we've been told more will come in the next month...

3. Check out Hamilton: The Revolution (When it comes out in April…)

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Still in the works, Hamilton: The Revolution will be a great behind-the-scenes look at the production going all the way to Lin-Manuel's original intentions for the project. As described on its amazon.com webpage…

"HAMILTON: THE REVOLUTION gives readers an unprecedented view of both revolutions, from the only two writers able to provide it. Miranda, along with Jeremy McCarter, a cultural critic and theater artist who was involved in the project from its earliest stages--"since before this was even a show," according to Miranda--traces its development from an improbable perfor­mance at the White House to its landmark opening night on Broadway six years later. In addition, Miranda has written more than 200 funny, revealing footnotes for his award-winning libretto, the full text of which is published here.

Their account features photos by the renowned Frank Ockenfels and veteran Broadway photographer, Joan Marcus; exclusive looks at notebooks and emails; interviews with Questlove, Stephen Sond­heim, leading political commentators, and more than 50 people involved with the production; and multiple appearances by Presi­dent Obama himself. The book does more than tell the surprising story of how a Broadway musical became a national phenomenon: It demonstrates that America has always been renewed by the brash upstarts and brilliant outsiders, the men and women who don't throw away their shot."

It will come out just in time for Spring Break, so you can spend your time off engrossed in Miranda's brilliance rather than something silly like hanging out at the beach. (Or bring it to the beach! Multi-task!)

Regardless of how you enjoy it, let's all take a moment to appreciate that Hamilton exists, and Lin-Manuel Miranda is a talent that promises to continue to shine bright.

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