She may be the presumptive Democratic nominee, but it looks like you have to be the President to get a command performance of Hamilton.
The Democratic National Committee is looking to spice up the prime time offerings — and is thus pursuing some of Clinton’s pop star supporters (likely Katy Perry, maybe Kim Kardashian). But top on their list is Lin-Manuel Miranda and the Hamilton cast. So far, though, Hamilton‘s star either hasn’t wanted to commit, or simply can’t fit Hillary Clinton into his busy schedule.
Lin-Manuel Miranda will be in the UK filming scenes for his upcoming Mary Poppins reboot with Emily Blunt at the same time as the DNC in late July, but he also might be reticent to do a live performance right around the time his Hamilton movie, a live presentation of the smash musical from its Broadway home, hits theaters.
One thing is for certain, however: Miranda, whose father is a Democratic politico in New York, isn’t opposed to using the production to raise money for the Democratic Party.
Last November, the DNC arranged for a special performance of Hamilton that included a short address from President Obama. The DNC charged upward of $500 per seat, which, based on current secondary market ticket prices, is a really great deal. Tickets for Manuel’s final performances in early July are hovering around $2,500 on StubHub, and tickets for Hamilton‘s touring performances, which will have an entirely new cast, are already in the hundreds.
The Obamas themselves have seen Hamilton at least twice and have hosted Miranda and his team at the White House several times for private performances. Hillary Clinton shared the stage with members of the Hamilton cast at the Inner Circle fundraiser in April.
Based on anecdotes about Hamilton and Jefferson that appear in her speeches, however, it seems she hasn’t seen the show.