Netanyahu’s Secret To Getting ‘Hamilton’ Tickets: Family Connections

The face of a man who’s seen the hit musical ‘Hamilton’ Image by Getty Images

By Jenny Singer October 24, 2018

Say what you will about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but remember this: He’s got a thick head of silver, a voice like an Israeli Sam Elliott, and a twinkle in his eye so gleaming it could throw off the start of havdalah. The man’s a charmer. And like all lovable operators, he has the weird “Hamilton” anecdote to prove it.

Political affiliation aside, we can’t help but tip our kippot to his chutzpah. Sure, he’s a tough-talking powerbroker who was recently questioned by his own state’s investigators about corruption for the 12th time, but he’s our tough-talking powerbroker who was recently questioned by his own state’s investigators about corruption for the 12th time!

Regaling the Jewish Federation of North America’s General Assembly in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, our Bibi returned to one of his favorite topics: the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton.” The Prime Minister and his wife Sara Netanyahu caught the blockbuster hip-hop show in September 2016 and were greeted loudly, the JTA reports, by both boos and applause plus, reportedly, two women who were taken from the theater after shouting “Free Palestine” (again, politics aside — you have to feel pretty strongly about an issue to lose your “Hamilton” tickets over it when you’re already in the theater). The PM has been vocal about his love of the musical, and told the crowd at the JFNAGA, per Reuters reporter Dan Williams, “How did I get tickets? Because my cousin’s wife works in the production – that’s how.”

Oh, Bibi! We love how committed he is to his own brand. In one comment he bragged, referenced his connections, implied that all of Israel is responsible for one another, suggested that he is a man of the people rather than a VIP macher, and displayed the sass of a teenage girl.

That’s our Prime Minister! He is never, ever one to throw away his shot.

Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO