Cheap ‘Hamilton’ tickets by winning the lottery

How I got great seats to the musical for just $10 but had to wear a mask

I love the musical “Hamilton”, even though I had never seen it in the theater until a couple of weeks ago. I’ve watched the movie version on the Disney channel. It’s an inspirational show about how our Founding Fathers -- Alexander Hamilton, George Washington et al-- fought a war and then built our country. 

I got to see it at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. because I figured out a hack to get cheap but excellent seats. Watch or read below to learn how I did it, and you can too…

VIDEO FROM “HAMILTON”:

Here’s my new video that I did from the Kennedy Center that tells how I got the cheap tickets. Or click to watch on my YouTube channel. My story continues below the video.

GETTING HAMILTON TICKETS

When I heard the show was going to be at the Kennedy Center from August through October, I looked on the website to buy tickets. As Hamilton sings:

“There’s a million things I haven’t done, just you wait.” 

Not so fast. I was stunned by the ticket prices. The worst seats in the house are $59 and the best are $399. On other websites, good tickets are being sold for more than twice as much.

With soaring inflation and a weak economy, you’d think there wouldn’t be a huge demand for these tickets. But there’s a lot of money in D.C. The Kennedy Center limited people to buying only eight tickets for the whole three months the show is in town.

Clearly, money is not an issue for many people wanting to see “Hamilton,” but I’m not one of them. 

CHEAP TICKETS HACK

As I scrolled through the Kennedy Center's official website into the FAQs, I found mention of a lottery. I clicked through and was taken to the Lucky Seat website. I could pick from a variety of shows in most big cities to enter the lottery. I found “Hamilton” at the Kennedy Center. I signed up for an account and entered the lottery. 

I didn’t think much more about it until five days later, I got this text: “You won Lucky Seats to Hamilton.” It said I had just two hours to buy the tickets for a specific date an time. I immediately went online and bought two tickets. See below how it shows on the website:

I thought it could be a scam, but I figured the worst thing that could happen was a $20 loss. Or as the show character Hamilton sings:

“I’m just like my country—I’m young, scrappy, and hungry, and I am not throwing away my shot.”

BOX OFFICE SURPRISE

I went to the Kennedy Center for the show and, to my pleasant surprise, the two tickets were waiting for me at the box office. I asked the woman behind the desk, “How much would these be worth if I had paid for them?”

(If you didn’t want the video above, I recorded this part, so watch here.)

“$379 each,” she said.

“379 dollars?” I repeated.

“A piece,” she emphasized.

“$379 a piece for the two tickets I paid $20?” I asked her.