The grand West End opening of the acclaimed musical ‘Hamilton’ has been thrown into chaos after being pushed back by two weeks, leaving thousands of disappointed fans without tickets.

Cameron Mackintosh, the owner of the Victoria Palace Theatre and the co-producer of ‘Hamilton’, confirmed the news on Friday (September 8th) that the massive redevelopment of the venue will not be completed in time for the scheduled November 21st opening of the play. “Tight time constraints” and “unhelpful problems” had prompted their “pragmatic decision” to postpone the opening, he explained.

Previews of ‘Hamilton’ will now begin a fortnight later on December 6th, but as all of the tickets for the run’s first booking period up to June 2018 have sold out, those who had booked tickets for the first two weeks are now left struggling to find seats again.

Lin-Manuel MirandaLin-Manuel Miranda wrote the musical 'Hamilton'

However, large numbers of seats were held back in reserve by the venue for around the time when renovation was supposed to have been completed, which the Victoria Palace Theatre hopes means that patrons who bought tickets can be re-seated without too much difficulty.

“We are extremely sorry to disappoint patrons who we know expended time, effort, and valuable resources to purchase tickets for our first performances,” said the show’s producer Jeffrey Seller. “But they will be given immediate priority so that they can be re-seated as early as possible.”

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Ticketmaster is in the process of contacting the affected ticket-holders via e-mail on Friday with details of how to exchange tickets for alternative performances.

Written by the acclaimed Lin-Manuel Miranda, ‘Hamilton’ tells the story of America’s Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, a West Indian immigrant who became George Washington’s confidante and adviser during the Revolutionary War. Using hip-hop and rap music to tell the story as well as traditional show-tunes, it received a record 16 Tony nominations last year, winning 11.

The official opening will now happen on December 21st.

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