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Lin-Manuel Miranda Brings #Ham4Ham Live Performance For ‘Hamilton’ Opening Night In L.A.

A swarm of Hamilton fans gathered in front of the Pantages Theatre on closed-down Hollywood Boulevard hoping to snag $10 tickets to opening night of the Tony-winning hip-hop-infused historical Broadway musical — and to catch the first and only live #Ham4Ham lottery performance in L.A. hosted by the show’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The pre-show #Ham4Ham live performances started in New York when Miranda would bring out special guests and perform to crowds waiting for the Hamilton lottery, a drawing that allows a lucky few to see the musical for 10 bucks, which appropriately has the titular character’s face on the bill (hence #Ham4Ham). The performances instantly became a video viral hit with past guests that included Jimmy Fallon, JJ Abrams, George Takei, Taran Killam, Cynthia Erivo, Lea Salonga, Patti Lupone and various members from the Hamilton cast and the Broadway community.

As said before, today will be the only #Ham4Ham live performance — but it was a good one. Miranda welcomed members of the touring cast — Joshua Henry, Michael Luwoye, Rory O’Malley, Keenan D. Washington and Julia Harriman — and musical supervisor Alex Lacamoire. With Lacamoire on the melodica, they sang a medley of California-centric songs in honor of the opening night that included “California Love,” “California Dreamin’,” “Hotel California,” “California Gurls” (by Katy Perry), “California Girls” (by the Beach Boys), and closed with Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.”

Instagram Photo
Instagram Photo

After the performance, original Hamilton cast member Daveed Diggs drew the first name for the lottery and 39 more were drawn after for front-row tickets to the hottest Broadway show in L.A.

The Hamilton lottery will continue in digital form via the a special Hamilton app or the Pantages website. Similar to today, the digital lottery will include 40 tickets for every performance at $10 each. The lottery will open at 11:00 AM PT two days prior to the performance date and will close for entry at 9:00 AM PT the day prior to the performance.

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