Smash hit musical Hamilton returning to Sydney

Hamilton smashed box office records when it premiered in Sydney in 2021, but Covid spoiled the party for many and producers felt they had no choice but to bring it back.

Being seen by 22 million people around the world, it’s arguably the most successful musical of all time — and it’s no wonder Hamilton is coming home to Sydney for another bite at the pie.
More than 250,000 tickets were sold even before our 2021 premiere, smashing box office records before its first song — add unprecedented global demand and the 180,000 Sydneysiders who missed out due to Covid cancellations, and producers knew that Sydney wanted more — they just needed the theatre space to put us “in the room where it happens”.

“I would love to say it was always the plan but it wasn’t,” the show’s producer Michael Cassel tells Insider.

“When we first opened the show here, we felt like we had a great run ahead of us which we enjoyed.

“But what we did not foresee was the period of time where we naturally had to stop the show when we were all locked down. That was devastating because we had over 180,000 people we had to say sorry to.

Producer Michael Cassel, in his Potts Point office, has announcee he is bringing back Hamilton the musical to Sydney in 2024. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“Because we had to cancel those performances, and because the show was performing as it was, there wasn’t the available inventory to re-seat them and reallocate them in other performances. That sparked the idea.

“We know that there’s great love and affection for the show, so how do we come back? It may be a bit earlier than expected but we can’t wait to get the show back here,” Cassel says.

Casting — a mix of familiar names along with fresh new talent — has already started for the show, which will return to the Lyric stage from July 30 next year.
Hamilton’s US producer Jeffrey Seller says he, like the show’s local fans, can’t wait.

“We’re coming back because we weren’t finished — we’re coming back because it wasn’t enough — we’re coming back because we lost 133 shows as a result of the Covid lockdown — so, of course, we’re coming back to fulfil our commitment to the Sydney audience,” he tells Insider from his US home this week.

“One of the greatest pleasures and rewards was to be in Sydney when we did because, as you’ll remember, it was the only production of Hamilton running in the world. And that was such an inspiration — it buoyed our spirits knowing we finally had a Hamilton opening.”

Seller hopes to come back to Sydney in July for the show’s return, which he predicts could draw a whole new crowd.

“We think there are a lot of people in Sydney who want to see Hamilton for the first time, who maybe weren’t old enough to see Hamilton when we came in 2021 and will be old enough three years later. We’re coming back for an audience that didn’t get a chance to see us,” he says.

Lin-Manuel Miranda performing for Hamilton in Brisbane.

“And we’re coming back to the audience that wants to see us again — how that will play out in numbers, only time will tell. This is a show that has had the biggest cultural impact of any show I’ve done — which is saying a lot because Rent had a big cultural impact. This is a show that is a beautiful reflection of the American story told through the eyes of all of us.

“Meaning … black people, brown people, white people, all of us. I like to say Hamilton is a reflection of our greatest values ... of our best impulses, and our loftiest dreams. And it manages, without trying to be patriotic, because it’s about planting seeds to build something. And it’s something for all of us.”

Hamilton stunned the world when it premiered on Broadway in 2015, telling the story of America’s once-forgotten founding father Alexander Hamilton as only Lin-Manuel Miranda can. Miranda tells Insider he wrote his masterpiece two lines at a time – and says his creation has a lot to thank Australia for.

“During the pandemic, when there was no theatre anywhere in the world, there was a moment when you guys were the only production running – and that really gave the rest of us hope, and that’s real,” he told Insider.

“It’s interesting, because to see a production of Hamilton is to engage in time travel again. It takes me back not only to when I was performing on the show but when I was writing the show, which is a significant chunk of my life. But I’m now done with American history – if I want another American history musical, it would be compared to Hamilton – and I think I did that as well as I can do it,” he laughs.

“The fun about theatre is you can look anywhere for inspiration … the only measure of whether something is worthy of telling is the passion of the person making it.”

Broadway’s Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller attends the Australian premiere of Hamilton at Lyric Theatre, Star City on March 27, 2021.

The new run may be limited due to other shows in the theatre schedule but their goal is to play as long as they can. Whether pre-sales will again break records, only time will tell.

“It will be interesting,” Cassel says.

“The show surprised us when we first announced in Sydney, it surprised us when we went on sale, it surprised us every step of the way when we released more tickets. It’s one of those water cooler shows ... a bucket-list show.”

To support productions like Hamilton, Cassel says the only answer is more theatres for Sydney.

“When you have great theatre, and you have great shows, the only limit to having more experiences is the theatre infrastructure,” he says.

Lin-Manuel Miranda with the Hamilton cast.

“We are blessed with great theatres – do we have as many as I think we need? No. But we have to solve that because what that does is develop the ecosystem that allows us to have that diversity of programming ... but also things of different scales.

“The biggest challenge we have in the industry – whether you’re producing, you’re onstage or behind the scenes – is that we all derive our employment from creating and producing the shows, but Sydney becomes a bit of a bottleneck.

“You do have capacity and availability in Melbourne which is great but, for most of these shows to really work, you need to be able to tour them at least in Melbourne and Sydney.

“We’re in the fortunate position that Sydney theatres are full and doing really well – so we need more of them.”

Fans can join the waitlist for pre-sale tickets which will be released on November 27.

General public tickets are set to be released on December 4.