Opinion: Young, Scrappy and...Greedy? HAMILTON's Ticket Price Increase

I loved Hamilton when I saw it. I paid £57.50 for a seat in the middle of the top tier of the newly refurbed Victoria Palace Theatre. It was pretty expensive, but I made my peace with it. The show was everything I wanted it to be.

Like many others, I logged on for the new booking period with the idea of perhaps buying more tickets. But I noticed something (and so did eagle-eyed fans): the £89.50 tickets from the previous booking period had jumped to £100.

That's over 10% increase from the first booking period. I put this to Hamilton's producers, who said: "Ticket prices were set for the first booking period at the newly restored and expanded Victoria Palace Theatre in 2016, over 18 months ago." Given that UK inflation hovers around 3%, this still seems hard to swallow.

But, I hear them cry, the other tickets have stayed the same price! This is true, however I'd like to add some much-needed figures to this. By my approximations (using the esteemed Theatre Monkey tools - worth noting I've used this because Hamilton's producers have not posted any seating price plans):

8 seats are priced £20

240 seats are priced £37.50 or under (verified by the producers and includes the daily lottery)

149 seats are priced £57.50

120 seats are priced £75

Now comes the interesting part:

A whopping 649 seats - were £89.50, now the new £100 price.

I believe the rest are accounted for by the premium £150/200 bracket.

So that's nearly half of the auditorium that has seen over £10 per seat price increase. How can this be justified as a price increase just six months after opening? Even Twitter fan account @HamilfansLDN decreed it "simply greed" and prompted a slew of tweets in agreement.

For a show with the thrilling power to engage new and varied theatre-goers, it seems a real shame to limit potential audiences like this.

What do you think? Let us know here!

Note: All figures worked out on an approximate basis from Theatre Monkey's own price plans. If there is an official plan, I will happily re-evaluate.