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