Hadestown Rush/SRO Updates — Page 17

Update from rush line: I’m #16. I arrived at 12:30p. The people in front of me arrived ~11ish. The guy behind me was here a minute or two after me. The weather is holding - cool, but cloudy.

5pm update: Got a spot (barely)! 17 tickets available today - 6 seats, 11 SRO spots.

The line was more than 30 deep by 5pm, hitting the 24hr Park sign.

Updated On: 7/23/19 at 01:03 PM

JSquared2 said: "JBroadway said: "^ I see that they are moving them to the digital lottery. I’m just wondering why they’re doing that. In fact, the decision to move them to digital is almost more confusing. If they just eliminated that allotment of rush seats, they could begin selling those seats for full price. But moving them to the digital lotto implies that it was a logistical decision. But the logistics will barely change on their end, since there will still be a line every day."



Why would there be a line for a digital lottery?"





They’re talking about the SRO line. Previously to this SRO and Rush were just kinda one line.

Daniel M said: "So disappointing. The chances of winning the lottery are slim, and purchasing tickets at house prices or through resellers is out of budget for many, especially those who gave up so many hours to be on that rush line. Now it’s even less accessible, and the rationale why is unclear. Blah."

I think the rationale is fairly clear. They adjusted the system to cut down on people camping out and spending hours and hours in line was working at first, but reports I had heard is that the line is getting back to starting earlier and earlier and people are going back to camping out. So it's a safety issue. They don't want people out on the streets of New York all night long. It was why they changed rush the first time and it's why they are changing it again.

When I said the rationale was unclear I was referring to that neither the Instagram post or BWW article stated a rationale from the theater. I was hesitant to jump right to safety concerns because yes, while Hamilton had major lines, plenty of other shows have drawn overnight crowds and continued to have a rush policy. I haven't heard of incidents in which someone's safety was in jeopardy but perhaps the producers did.

Daniel M said: "magictodo123 said: "Daniel M said: "So disappointing. The chances of winning the lottery are slim, and purchasing tickets at house prices or through resellers is out of budget for many, especially those who gave up so many hours to be on that rush line. Now it’s even less accessible, and the rationale why is unclear. Blah."

Actually, I think it is very clear. It's similar to Hamilton when it got popular. People were camping out at ridiculous hours, and I'm pretty sure it's very unsafe. The theater most likely didn't feel comfortable with that. People were camping out starting the night before. Even when a new policy was announced regarding when one could line up for rush, people were still showing up at ridiculous hours, and I think people were even disregarding the rule about lining up hours in advance. This is why it was switched. People were being (for lack of better word, I guess) greedy with wanting to see the show and completely ignored the consequences of their actions to others who wanted to rush in the future."

When I said the rationale was unclear I was referring to that neither the Instagram post or BWW article stated a rationale from the theater. I was hesitant to jump right to safety concerns because yes, while Hamilton had major lines, plenty of other shows have drawn overnight crowds and continued to have a rush policy. I haven't heard of incidents in which someone's safety was in jeopardy but perhaps the producers did."

I'm not trying to get in an argument, but I think any time people are sleeping on streets overnight in Manhattan it's a safety risk. I don't know of any specific examples of incidents that have happened, but it does leave open the possibility of them happening. Yes, I understand about other productions-I'm well aware of that. But I think this was very extreme. Also, people weren't listening to the new guidelines set forth by the production. I think that is most likely the biggest problem. Also, those other productions aren't as in demand, and people aren't lining up the night before, are they? This was completely out of control with people (as I said) disregarding rules set forth by the production. Actions and consequences.

Since Hadestown was already selling via the Lucky Seats lottery they could just be eliminating whatever allocation they were making for in person rush tickets. We have no way of knowing how many seats are sold via the Lucky Seat lottery, so isn't it entirely possible that that allocation is remaining the same and the box office has taken back (an albeit small) allocation to sell at full price? This of course would be in addition to the rationale of not wanting people camping out for hours on end for the in person rush tickets.

Daniel M said: "magictodo123 said: "I'm not trying to get in an argument, but I think any time people are sleeping on streets overnight in Manhattan it's a safety risk. I don't know of any specific examples of incidents that have happened, but it does leave open the possibility of them happening. Yes, I understand about other productions-I'm well aware of that. But I think this was very extreme. Also, people weren't listening to the new guidelines set forth by the production. I think that is most likely the biggest problem. Also, those other productions aren't as in demand, and people aren't lining up the night before, are they? This was completely out of control with people (as I said) disregarding rules set forth by the production. Actions and consequences."

I did not think this was an argument either, I am just trying to wrap my head around all of this and appreciate your perspective. I know that last summer Mean Girls had people showing up at 10:00pm the night before. Might not be in the same demand right now but they kept the rush going. Did Hadestown explicitly advise against showing up overnight? Or was the disregard about how the line formed at the theater (like blocking the parking garages)?"

I'm guessing the latter. They (Hadestown) did have a sign that said the hours when people could start lining up for rush-I believe it was posted on the door of the theater. They also posted it on social media. People completely ignored it. I can have my stance on this and feel like you're kind of implying my perspective isn't valid, although you said you appreciated it. People on social media were adamant about people NOT lining up at ridiculous hours because they were worried the new rush policy would be changed, or taken away, and they were right!