Hamilton Cancellation Line
May 29
2016, 03:43:16 PM
Recent experience
Friday May 27th at 1pm we have one person arrive for Cancellation line - we were shooting for saturday matinee or evening. Long line that day was split between those wanting Friday and those wanting Saturday - he got in Saturdays line and was about the 6th person in line (all in front seeking two)
Splitting the line into two is problematic because it rewards people with two in line ( seeking two tickets for themselves) at that time because one says in one line the other goes to the next day line - If you were only one person there waiting for two tickets (your other arriving later or perhaps sleeping at a local hotel) you could only get in one line
that particular day the rule was if you did not get tickets for Friday show you had to go to the back of the Saturday line (Personally I don't like that rule at all but it benefitted us in the end)
At 530 pm on Friday another of our group of 4 arrives in gets in the Saturday line and is about 12th-13th in line. Mostly everyone in line is saying they want two tickets and a few have people they are intermittedly changing off in line with (perfectly fair in my humble opinion)
At 615 pm the other two arrive - and pair up with the person 5th in line and 13th in line
The Friday line had only 8 tickets in total that night (a few premiums were included in that number) so basically that night was a semi-bust for those that chose that line - very few if any of those not getting tixs to Friday got at the back of the saturday line but those who paired up earlier when the line was split earlier on Friday just moved to their partner who was in line for Saturday
by around midnight the Saturday line had 20 people that wanted around 32-34 tickets in total - some only wanted matinee, some only evening but most just wanted in the show whether matinee or evening
the 4 people in front of our 5th place in line arrived from 8am to 1pm on Friday (two line sitters were 2nd and 3rd in line- nice, polite gentleman that did not talk a lot and were prepared with sleeping bags and makeshift pillows)
there was about 10-12 separate people in line seeking a total of 20-24 tickets by 10pm on Friday. Everyone after the line sitters was friendly and spent many hours talking and sharing stories and talking about the show, About a half in line had seen it before. Everyone seemed comfortable with how we all interpreted the rules and that you needed basically to have one person in line for two tickets at all times (excluding times that person needed to grab coffee, food or run to the store or restroom or just walk to the drugstore at Duane Reade to stretch their legs or break boredom  - NO one was unreasonable around those common sense things.
about 5 or 6 commititted to sleeping on the hard concrete - the only ones that seemed to really get sleep were those with sleeping bags
now this particular week was fleet week so from midnight to around 4pm we had many groups of sailors with their dates, wives or just fellow sailors and Marines walking up and down the street. we also had the obligatory people asking what were doing (my advice is just prepare a funny retort - like you are there to witness a duel between Burr and Hamilton) - we also had the drunks walking by, tourist etc but because the group of cancellation line people is so large there are not any problems . Around 300 to 5am it gets relatively deserted except for a cacophony of trash trucks endlessly going up 46th Street ( the odd thing is less than 25% of them actually stopped to pick up trash or recyclable cardboard) so that was annoying
daylight occurs between 5-6am and then you realize there are still 8 more hours until the matinee show
from midnight to daybreak about 3-4 more got in line and then another 10 or so lined up from 6am to 10am - so at least 25-30 people in the cancellation line
the folks there overnight also shared coffee runs and community pizzas, Cronuts etc during the stay and some would bring water for others - Wonderful caring people are how I would describe them in general
The Saturday matinee had an unbelievable # of tickets available through premiums, two unclaimed lottery tickets and the house tickets and other sources. I think the # was 10 premium tickets (4 sold on Friday and 6 on Saturday between 1100am and 1 pm) and 11 other tickets
Our group of 4 all got in though 1 was the last ticket sold at around 203pm - we ended up with two sitting in the first row (unclaimed lottery) and two sitting just light of center in row G or H in the center orchestra - We declined all offers for premium tickets and for us it worked out great because our ticket locations were fabulous (most that paid for premiums had tickets a little further back than where we were but I am guessing no one should draw a conclusion for seating locations from our experience
the show is even better the second time around because you pick up little things you missed first time
I briefly tried to chat with some staff there about cancellation tickets availabitliy and they always say they don't know (my guess is that so many of the tickets sold end up being premium or house tickets that don't go into the cancellation bucket until a few hours before show (premium) or last 30 minutes or less (house tix)
the one thing they did say was that because it was a holiday weekend matinee there maybe more than usual (I interpreted that to mean there would less public demand for premium or people trying to access the house tickets - but once again just one man's opinion
The experience of participating in the cancellation line is fun but I can understand if it is not everyones cup of tea - I have now done it 3 times and my best advice is try and have fun, there is no telling how many tickets will be available, and know that when you begin you may not get tickets -
I am also not a big fan of premium tickets being offered to cancellation line at premium prices - I would prefer they just go into the general cancellation buckets and be offered based upon a persons place in line not a persons ability to pay 3X the face value
tx to others that offered advice and shared experiences but I am officially OUT (picture me as Daveed dropping his mic after he verbally spars with Lin)
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Hamilton Cancellation Line
Mar 23
2016, 05:08:11 PM
congrats. show will be worth it. based upon my experience last Saturday, it would not surprise me if a few more were made available for the matinee or evening performance - As the vets told me the house tickets (center orchestra rows g and H) are held to about 10-15 minutes before the show
but a bird in the hand (i,.e tickets) is better then the possibility of nothing and with your investment you had to take them
check back with those in line tonight and
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