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'Hamilton' Tickets In East Lansing? Here's How To Get Them

Hamilton national touring company photo
Joan Marcus
The national touring company of 'Hamilton' arrives at MSU's Wharton Center on May 14 for a three-week run.

When the Wharton announced that Hamilton was coming to East Lansing about a year and a half ago, the anticipation started to build. The biggest hit musical in a generation will be in town for three weeks, starting May 14th, and on Saturday, individual ticket sales begin. They’re sure to go fast, so WKAR’s Scott Pohl brought Bob Hoffman in from the Wharton Center to get the lowdown on how you can get tickets to see Hamilton.

SCOTT POHL: Bob Hoffman, Saturday is your shot to get tickets to Hamilton. Right?

BOB HOFFMAN: That is true. It's a big day at Wharton Center, and you can get tickets to Hamilton by going online at WhartonCenter. com. That's probably going to be your best bet.

The other way you can do it is by calling 800-WHARTON or showing up at the Wharton center starting at 8 o'clock. All the patrons that show up at 8 o'clock will be given a wristband that's numbered. That does not guarantee that you get tickets. We’ll be doing a random drawing of those numbers and then move those people into the ticket office to purchase the tickets. So the random drawing will happen throughout the morning.

POHL: So you might be number 75 in line but wind up being first in line.

HOFFMAN: if you're in line that's correct.

POHL: I wanted to go through all of these possibilities one at a time now. If I choose to call, how is that going to work? What if the phone lines busy? What do you have to tell me about the phone lines?

HOFFMAN: If the phone line’s busy and that's the way you want to do it, continue to call 800-WHARTON.

POHL: Is that ringing into a call center?

HOFFMAN: No, it's ringing into our ticket office. I expect phone lines to be pretty busy.

POHL: The online experience will be similar to every other ‘I'm buying tickets online for a big show’ kind of an experience?

HOFFMAN: There is a limit of four tickets per household that is set by Hamilton, and that's because we want to make sure that a number of people get to see Hamilton. If your household has more than four tickets, your ticket order will be cancelled, so make sure that you only purchase four tickets per household.

POHL: If you want to come in person Saturday morning, what's the arrival time, what's the last arrival time?

HOFFMAN: If you want to get tickets Saturday morning, we ask that you show up about 8 o'clock. We'll be giving away those bracelets starting at 9:45. We’ draw eight numbers at a time and escort those people into the Wharton Center to the ticket office where they can purchase their tickets. We’ll have lots of people on hand, we’ll have some fun and activities taking place, so hopefully it's a great morning weather-wise. It should be a lot of fun.

POHL: What are the price ranges for Hamilton tickets?

HOFFMAN: Prices will range from $73.50 to $163.50, with a limited number of $398.50 premium seats available for select performances. Prices include the $3.50 facility fee, and additional fees may be applied based on the method of purchase.

POHL: Hamilton has also got a well-earned reputation for putting some tickets to most or all performances up for auction then at a really inexpensive price. Is that happening here too?

HOFFMAN: There will be 40 orchestra level seats offered for $10 at each performance. Details will be announced closer to the engagement, and in the meantime, the best thing to do is download the Hamilton app to be sure sure you receive the lottery updates and to receive any other updates.

In addition, of course, follow Wharton Center on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, bcause we’ll always give you the updates.

The other thing that I want to say about that is right now, there's a lot of fraudulent sites out there that are selling Hamilton tickets. At the time of this interview, Hamilton tickets are not on sale. They don't go on sale until Saturday. The best place to get Hamilton tickets online is at WhartonCenter.com. There are a lot of other places that you can buy Hamilton tickets right now. Those aren't guaranteed, and you're paying probably an extreme amount of money to do that. It's so important that people only buy from the reputable source.

POHL: Twenty-four total performances starting May 14th, Hamilton coming to East Lansing, and the Wharton center is the room where it happens!

Scott Pohl is a general assignment news reporter and produces news features and interviews. He is also an alternate local host on NPR's "Morning Edition."
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