S

o many tickets, so 
few left. If you didn’
t 
purchase the Broadway 
in Detroit subscription by 
the time Something Rotten 
opened at the Fisher Theatre 
in September, you were 
basically SOL (Severely Out 
of Luck) at being guaranteed 
a Hamilton ticket.

“When we announced 
last year that Hamilton was 
going to be in our season, our 
subscription orders spiked. 
In fact, having Hamilton as 
part of our seven-show series 
helped us double our subscription base,” said Scott 
Myers, director of corporate sales and marketing 
at Broadway in Detroit, a division of Nederlander 
Detroit.
Your next chance came when Ticketmaster ran a 
Verified Fan Lottery that sent selected buyers a special 
code that allowed them to buy tickets online Jan. 25. 
If you didn’
t get a code, you had to head to the Fisher 
Building tat 7:30 a.m. to enter the wristband lottery 
for a chance to buy tickets that day. 
“Our staff came together to make sure more than 
600 people were able to buy Hamilton tickets,” added 
Myers, who said the last number was called around 
3:30 p.m. “It was an incredibly busy day with an 
overwhelmingly patient, gracious and very excited 
group of theater fans.”
So, what about those still clamoring to get a ticket? 
Here is your guide to supporting a worthy charity and 
getting your shot at seeing Hamilton.
For Amy Nederlander, it’
s beshert 
that the first fundraiser for L!fe Leaders 
Inc., the Detroit-based nonprofit 
she co-founded three years ago with 
Michaela Murphy, will be held March 
28 at the Fisher Theatre.
“It really means the world to me that 
our inaugural gala is being held at one 
of the theaters that’
s been run by my 
family since it opened over 50 years ago in Detroit,” 
said Nederlander, a Detroit native now living in New 
York City.
Leadership! Fueled by Entrepreneur-ISM (L!FE) 

provides career and leadership development programs 
for middle school and high schoolers in Detroit, 
empowering students to find their voice, and establish 
skills and goals using theater-based techniques, 
marketing, branding and network etiquette. 
Nederlander Detroit is sponsoring 24 L!FE 
students and teachers for the March 28 Gala that 
includes an elegant dinner curated by Chef Marcus 
Samuelsson (The Red Rooster, Harlem) at the Fisher 
Theatre, orchestra seating for Hamilton, champagne 
and dessert reception with a post-
performance conversation with 
members of the cast and Hamilton
producer Jeffrey Seller, who grew up 
in Oak Park and graduated from the 
University of Michigan. Seller, along 
with Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Mayor 
Mike Duggan and Lori Maher, are 
honorary gala hosts.
“Jeffrey and I are both very passionate about 
Detroit and empowering youth, so we collaborate 
when we can. I will do anything I can do to help 
the city and its revitalization and its future leaders,” 
said Nederlander, who introduced her close friend, 
Seller, at the Jewish Expats gathering as part of Crain’
s 
Detroit Homecoming event in 2016.
Seller met firsthand with L!FE students at the 
University Prep Academy in Detroit and said, “The 
impact L!FE programs have had is inspiring. The 
story of Alexander Hamilton, an orphan from St. 
Croix with incredible potential and drive who went 
on to change the world, is a great lesson about the 

ways in which we can 
improve the country and the 
world when we invest in our 
promising students.”
In that same mission of 
supporting Detroit’
s youth, 
the Seller-Lehrer Family 
Foundation, founded by 
Seller and his partner 
Josh Lehrer, a prominent 
documentarist and 
photographer, donated a 
$1 million grant to fund 
Mosaic Youth Theatre’
s 
Summer Camp and Middle 
School Programs at the end 
of December 2018. Mosaic Youth Theatre’
s Hamilton 
Benefit will be on April 9. Tickets for the show only 
range from $289-$840.
Hillel of Metro Detroit (HMD) held its own 
Hamilton ticket lottery for current HMD students 
in January. HMD has Jewish student chapters at 
Wayne State University, Oakland University, Oakland 
Community College, University of Michigan 
Dearborn, Lawrence Technological University and 
University of Detroit Mercy. Students entered to win 
one, non-transferable ticket to the HMD pre-glow 
and show April 4. Students paid $50.

“This fundraiser is an amazing opportunity for 
our students, many of whom are work-study and 
have never seen live professional theater and could 
never afford to see a show like Hamilton,” said HMD 
Endowment Campaign Director Illana Greenberg.
She says the fundraiser, chaired by Lou Goldhaber 
and Fern Kepes, will give Hillel donors an 
opportunity to mingle with the students at the pre-
glow, which includes cocktails and kosher appetizers. 
Tickets for the pre-glow and Hamilton show start at 
$400; tickets are limited. 
If you want to see Hamilton on opening night, 
Tuesday, March 12, you can purchase tickets that 
will support three nonprofits: Congregation Shir 
Tikvah in Troy, Upland Hills School in Oxford and 
Congregation Beth Shalom of Traverse City. The 
event also will celebrate Shir Tikvah’
s Double Chai 
(36th) anniversary.
“I first met Jeffrey Seller at Shir Tikvah when he 
was back in Detroit for a family bat mitzvah,” said 

40 Febraury 14 • 2019
jn

theater
arts&life

Amy 

Nederlander

Want to See
Hamilton?

Julia K. 

Harriman and 

Austin Scott 

Jeffrey Seller

 SHANE BURKE

Get tickets and benefi
 t one of these local fundraisers. 

JULIE SMITH YOLLES CONTRIBUTING WRITER

JOAN MARCUS 

continued on page 41

