#Ham4Ham

September 4, 2015 8:07 AM

Almost twenty years ago, RENT changed the way Broadway shows offered cheap "rush" tickets by introducing the first lottery for $20 front row seats. This year, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the composer/lyricist/book writer of Hamilton, introduced #Ham4Ham, a lottery show where Broadway actors from all parts of the community perform in front of the Richard Rodgers theatre while waiting to hear their names called for $10 rush seats.
posted by roomthreeseventeen (17 comments total)

It would be even better if they could engage in actual Hamilton-Burr style duels-to-the-death. Survivor gets the front row. Loser gets to be Hamilton in the last scene.
posted by briank at 8:23 AM on September 4, 2015 [4 favorites]

In the 1970s I used to go to Le Café de la Gare in Paris. It was the biggest and most famous of the new, so-called café-théâtres in Paris. It had a "wheel of fortune" at the entrance. Just before show time, those queueing for the show were given a coloured token. The wheel was spun... and depending on where the wheel came to rest determined how much you paid... one colour was top price (price of a cinema ticket), other colours less... and one colour meant the management paid you one franc to watch the show. The theatre began at the door!
posted by Mister Bijou at 8:49 AM on September 4, 2015 [3 favorites]

Oh shit, I didn't think anybody had recorded the full Les Mis Q&A one! Thanks!

"Confrontation" with Kyle Jean-Baptiste (RIP) and "96,000" with Chris Jackson and Karen Olivo are still my favorites by far.

A couple of my favorites missing from this great post:
Leslie Odom Jr singing Forever Young

Fun Home/Hamilton crossover

Spring Awakening reunion

The Schuyler Sisters singing Fallin'

And finally a non-musical bit, an emotional Lin-Manuel reading the introduction to the Ron Chernow biography that inspired the show for the official opening night #Ham4Ham.

And a related video: Hamilton Opening Night - Cast Perspective, produced by Leslie Odom Jr.
posted by kmz at 9:04 AM on September 4, 2015 [5 favorites]

I, uh, might be slightly obsessed with the show right now. Counting down the days until the soundtrack release and making a trip to NYC to see it in November.
posted by kmz at 9:08 AM on September 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

kmz, I'm going back for the second time the first week in November. ;)
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:15 AM on September 4, 2015

I, uh, might be slightly obsessed with the show right now.

There's a lot of that going on in our house right now. Every day I hear Hamilton-this and Hamilton-that.

That being said, I'm looking forward to seeing it in NYC. I've been told that it is our next travel destination, and primarily for that purpose.

Not that it would be a hardship. We saw the original cast of In the Heights on Broadway (when Lin Manuel Miranda was still in it), and it was absolutely fantastic. So I'm on board for this, too.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:16 AM on September 4, 2015

Dang, I wish I could have seen In The Heights. My path to Lin-Manuel fandom was through My Brother My Brother And Me so I came late. The ITH Original Cast Recording gets regular play on my music player though.
posted by kmz at 10:08 AM on September 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm trying to get tickets for October (to go a third time) but Ticketmaster is The Worst slash there seem to be few or zero remaining. I'm glad Hamilton is blowing up because it's a transformative work of genius, but it does make fanning out a bit harder.
posted by prefpara at 10:37 AM on September 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

After we saw the show, I started reading the Hamilton book and it is gripping! It is a beast and I won't finish before my library copy is due back, so we bought one. I really want to get back to the show ASAP but will have to enjoy the cast recording once it is out.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:43 AM on September 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

My beautiful and darling friend from NYC told me how good Hamilton is and now I want to take a trip specifically to see it.
posted by ColdChef at 11:59 AM on September 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm going to be visiting NYC in a few weeks and this is not helping me figure out whether I want to try getting rush tickets for Fun Home or Hamilton first. I realize this is an awesome problem to have, but still.
posted by bettafish at 12:10 PM on September 4, 2015

Lin-Manuel Miranda is changing the world of musical theater. Or maybe changing the world, using musical theater. "Look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now."
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 12:48 PM on September 4, 2015

OMG yes!!!

Isolated vocals of my sneaky @MBMBaM reference in Hamilton. @travismcelroy @JustinMcElroy @griffinmcelroy #Immortal

I'd heard that there was a sneaky MBMBAM reference but I wasn't sure if it had survived the various changes to the show. And that's pretty much my favorite recurring MBMBAM thing too.
posted by kmz at 1:07 PM on September 4, 2015

This is pretty freaking awesome. thanks for posting!
posted by blurker at 2:17 PM on September 4, 2015

I'm seeing it for the third time in November and the fourth time in January. Totally obsessed. The book is indeed very gripping, looking forward to seeing the show after I've finished it.
posted by Mavri at 6:15 AM on September 5, 2015

HAMILTON Ham4Ham 9/11/2015 “Love for the Techies Day” with the entire company
posted by kmz at 5:24 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

The Hamilton cast album is on NPR today.
posted by Mavri at 8:29 AM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]