Hamilton London: tears of elation and frustration as fans clamour for tickets
The first tickets for the West End transfer of Hamilton were released today, to the excitement – and later, frustration –of theatre-lovers desperate to see the Broadway hit.
In America, touts have been asking for as much as $10,000 for tickets to the musical, which retells the life of the American founding father Alexander Hamilton through popular music and hip-hop.
But for the show's UK run, the producers have introduced a new ticketing system to make the reselling of tickets at inflated prices more difficult.
Between June and October, 100,000 people registered online, in order to be able to book some of the first pre-sale tickets, released today at noon.
One fan spotted that January 16 was an auspicious day for the show's creator and star, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
But by mid-morning, many fans were shocked to see that tickets were already being sold from 10am, and to learn that their booking codes were invalid for these tickets.
The tickets sold at 10AM were only available to punters who had signed up for the DMT+ membership scheme run by Delfont Mackintosh, the theatre chain behind the show's London venue, the Victoria Palace theatre.
As more confused Hamilton fans took to social media to vent their frustration, the show's official Twitter account tried to clarify the situation.
Meanwhile, Delfont Mackintosh used their website to explain that it was too late to sign up for Hamilton: "Only DMT+ Members registered before the 9th January 2017 will automatically receive priority access to HAMILTON tickets on the 16th January 2017."
As a small consolation, they reminded theatre-goers of other membership benefits, such as a 2-for-1 deal on warm Pimm's at all their theatres.
Once the main batch of presale tickets were released at 12, many fans found themselves struggling with the "jammed" website.
Confused by the "jammed" website:
And, indeed, there were tears:
Not everyone was so lucky:
Others, put off by the frenzy surrounding Hamilton, decided to book tickets for 'backup' shows, including The Play That Goes Wrong and The Girls.
Meanwhile, less theatre-savvy Twitter users were baffled by the furore:
Tickets: 0844 871 2118; Telegraph Tickets