Harry Potter and the Cursed Child started its previews in London’s West End this week – and the two-part play is already sold out until 2017. For the producers, however, there is little defence against the dark arts of ticket reselling. At the time of writing, the cheapest ticket you can get to see the show next week on the resale site Viagogo is £250: double the top box-office price of £125.
On Broadway, tickets for Hamilton, the hip-hop musical about the US founding father Alexander Hamilton, attract an even steeper mark-up. At each performance, at least $30,000 (£20,700) goes to resellers, according to Bloomberg, with some premium seats being sold for around $1,000 (£691), and cancellation lines starting days in advance.
Back in London, the only shows drawing prices close to Harry Potter are The Spoils, starring Jesse Eisenberg, and Nabucco at the Royal Opera House, with Placido Domingo. A recent government review said UK ticket sites need to do more to prevent reselling, suggesting buyers should be forced to show IDs, like at Glastonbury.
