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SALT LAKE CITY — The curtain rises on Hamilton in April at the Eccles Theater. Single tickets will go on sale later this week, but shoppers can already find them on online resale sites. Many cost more than a mortgage payment.
The KSL Investigates dig into how would-be theatergoers can protect themselves as they try to buy what may be the hottest ticket in town.
The Investigators found tickets being sold for $600, $800, even $1,400 per seat. All the tickets came from websites not connected to the Eccles' box office.
"If you're seeing tickets out there it's not from the official source," said Salt Lake County Arts director Sarah Pearce.
Pearce says Eccles' official seller, ArtTix, will start selling tickets to the public later this week. What's out there are likely season tickets being resold. Pearce believes resale websites aren't worth the price.
"Be really careful because they can be double or triple the value of the actual face value of the ticket," Pearce said.
A seller on the online marketplace Craigslist wanted $950 for a ticket, but a photo of the ticket showed it cost $175.
The KSL Investigators saw other huge markups. For example, if you wanted to bring a friend to the Friday, April 13 show, "the tickets are $1,077 each and the additional service charge is almost $300," said KSL Investigator Debbie Dujanovic as she shopped for online prices. "Plus the $25 to overnight the tickets to me," she added.
In total on that website, two tickets cost $2,715.95.
If consumers do score a ticket, they'll want to avoid a common social media mistake. Don't take a selfie with the bar code showing. Clever thieves will copy it and turn good tickets into phony copies.
If your only option is buying from a reseller, choose a reputable one.
More on 'Hamilton' coming to Utah
Education program will give thousands of Utah students chance to see 'Hamilton'
Thousands of Utah high school students will have what some people consider the “experience of a lifetime” this spring through the Hamilton Education Program."There's always going to be a demand and the price of a ticket is driven by how much supply there is," said National Association of Ticket Brokers director Gary Adler.
He offered three main tips.
"Always pay with a credit card or make sure they accept credit cards; you have some recourse," Adler said, as a bank can help a consumer if the ticket is fraudulent.
Second, make sure the broker offers a money back guarantee as a fraud protection. And third, Adler said shop around. Prices will change and may move in your favor.
ArtTix says it will only sell paper tickets to "Hamilton." There will be no tickets sent to a consumer's phone or tickets to print at home. ArtTix suggests setting up an account in advance at its website ArtTix.org to give theatergoers the best shot at buying a ticket.
Performances of "Hamilton" will run from April 11 through May 6.
Tickets for "Hamilton" will go on sale to the public on Friday, Feb. 9 at 10 a.m. MT at arttix.artsaltlake.org. Tickets will also be available at the Eccles Theater Box Office, located at 131 Main St. There is a maximum purchase limit of four tickets per household address, and tickets range from $75 to $165 with a select number of $300 premium seats available for all performances, according to a Broadway Across America media release.
