Seeing Hamilton in Chicago for Cheap: Part 3 – Hamilton, an American Musical

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Million Mile Secrets team member Jasmin visited Chicago with her 3 kids to see Hamilton – An American Musical.  And she did NOT wait months for tickets or pay a small fortune!

She’ll tell you how she traveled with her family to Chicago using miles, points, and credit card perks for an unforgettable weekend of Big Travel with Small Money!

Jasmin:   Thanks, D!  My children are huge Hamilton fans!  The soundtrack is in heavy rotation in our house, the kids know all the lyrics, and Lin-Manuel Miranda is their hero.

But tickets to the Hamilton productions in New York and Chicago are very hard to get.  Shows are sold months (or years) in advance, and ticket prices can be incredibly prohibitive.

But with a bit of luck and the right credit cards, I was able to surprise the kids with tickets to Hamilton and a trip to Chicago as a Christmas gift – without breaking the bank.  I’ll explain how!

Seeing Hamilton in Chicago for Cheap Index

• Part 1 – Introduction and Planning
• Part 2 – Flights and Hotel
• Part 3 – Hamilton – An American Musical
• Part 4 – Museum of Science & Industry and Other Activities in Chicago

Hamilton – An American Musical

1.   Getting the Tickets Through the AMEX Platinum Concierge

Link:   American Express Platinum Concierge

Link:   The Platinum Card® from American Express

Link:   The Business Platinum® Card from American Express

Link:   The Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Mercedes-Benz

My kids, like many, are absolutely enthralled with Hamilton – An American Musical.  They’ve got the soundtrack and listen to it constantly, and have memorized all the lyrics (which means I’ve memorized all the lyrics by osmosis!).  😉

We’ve been to New York City and Chicago each once, and they’d been bugging to go again just to see Hamilton.  But unless you buy tickets months or years in advance, you’ll end up paying hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars.  So my response to them had always been “maybe one day.”

A few days before Christmas, I noticed a post on The Points Guy saying the AMEX Platinum Concierge had released a block of Hamilton seats in Chicago, in the coming few months, for American Express Platinum cardholders.  And tickets were available for as little as $65 a piece.  Incredible!

I’ve got The Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Mercedes-Benz but had never used the concierge.  So I quickly dialed the number on the back of my card – which I guess other folks did as well, because I waited on hold for over an hour.  I wasn’t hopeful that there’d still be tickets left.

But there were plenty left – including a performance just over a month away.  I pulled the trigger, paid with my AMEX Mercedes-Benz Platinum card, and the tickets arrived just a few days later, in time for Christmas!

The kids were absolutely stunned.  They don’t often think Mom can do magic, but this time they were convinced!

Currently, the AMEX Platinum Concierge doesn’t have an allotment of Chicago Hamilton tickets for sale.  But they recently offered face value tickets to the upcoming Los Angeles production.

You can sign-up for their Entertainment Access Newsletter through your online account, which will notify you when performances are available.

And to book Hamilton or other shows, give them a call at 800-525-3355.  You’ll have to use your American Express Platinum card to pay for your tickets.  And there’s a limit of 4 tickets per cardholder for Hamilton performances.

2.   The Performance!

We took a Lyft from the Hyatt Regency Chicago to the PrivateBank Theatre, which was only a ~10 minute drive away.  The kids were totally pumped when we pulled up to the entrance and saw the lights, signs, and throngs of people on the sidewalk.

It was a full house – packed!  We climbed the (many) stairs to the balcony and met up with my cousin Geralyn, who bought a ticket near us with the help of Million Mile Secrets team member Harlan (thanks again!).

The balcony in the PrivateBank Theatre is really high up!  I could have splurged on more expensive seats further down, but the cost adds up with 3 kids and I knew they wouldn’t care where we sat.  Just seeing Hamilton was what mattered!

The performance was incredible.  I didn’t know much about Alexander Hamilton and it was a fun way to learn his story and contributions to American history.  The kids were ecstatic through the whole thing, singing along (as did many folks around us), dancing in their seats, and acting out the characters’ emotions.

And the music is just wonderful.  Hearing it live, I now fully understand why Lin-Manuel Miranda has received so many awards for writing this musical.  We laughed a lot, too, because the actors inject humor into many of the scenes.  King George’s scenes were my favorite.

If you attend, be forewarned that (like many events) souvenirs at the theater are quite expensive.  The kids used their Christmas money to buy a hat, t-shirt, and poster, and the total was ~$80.  I didn’t mind because I’ve spent similar amounts of money at concerts (I still bust out my Duran Duran t-shirt from time to time!).  😉

Bottom Line

Seeing Hamilton – An American Musical was the highlight of our weekend trip to Chicago.  Thanks to the AMEX Platinum Concierge, I was able to get 4 balcony seats for $65 each – an amazing deal!  Paying the annual fee was worth it to see the joy and excitement in my kids’ faces.

If you have the chance to see Hamilton – An American Musical – do it!  It was amazing and the kids and I will remember it forever.