I promised myself that I would share my experience, and I didn't read all the previous posts before me, so apologies for the repeat information.
I was there last Friday/Saturday to see Hamilton and after reading the boards, I had no idea what to expect. And honestly, I think that's the right expectation to have when going to the cancellation line. There is really no way to tell how many people will be there, and even more, how many tickets will be released.
Friday, they had 8 tickets, which I believe someone already mentioned. There was a family of 4 there, the entire day waiting for tickets and it was their second time trying to see the show. The little girl, probably middle school, really wanted to see it. But they ended up being next in line, and there were no more tickets left. She burst into tears the moment they made that announcement. There was a scalper offering 2 tickets for $400 each, and the dad said no. I can understand that, it's a lot to pay and there was 4 of them. They also passed up on premium tickets earlier in the evening. Apparently one of the scalpers had offered the dad $200 to get the tickets for $300 each so the girl could see the show, and he said no. Again, still I can understand that, since I don't think the parents wanted to send in the two kids by themselves to see the show (the boy was younger). Someone ended up picking up the tickets, I believe, and went to get money before the show started. There were no tickets sold after curtain, so everyone went home from there. There was also a police officer who was, closer to the show starting, going around trolling people and telling them to go home because there is no way they were going to get tickets (which I thought was unnecessary, since it was a person's choice to stay and wait just in case, and they weren't causing a ruckus... also it's a guessing game. Apparently the Friday before, EVERYONE in the cancellation line got tickets because they had like 8 pairs and 6 singles -- or something like that; people were assuming that an entire group canceled their tickets). Afterwards, it was raining outside a little bit, they made the announcement at the stage door that not everyone would be coming out the stage door. Leslie, Daveed, Rory, and later on Renee came out.
By 4pm Friday, there was already a Saturday line for both 2pm and 8pm (which were one line, as mentioned in the past). They were all line sitters, or scalpers, not looking to see the show themselves. I think there were 3 guys from SOLD and then the rest were scalpers. I spoke to both people in the box office before the Friday show and after the show to try and get a better understanding of how things go. I had a general idea from the boards, but I wanted to get their perspective as well. One of the guys who worked for Hamilton stated that if you came by 10AM on Saturday you would be likely to get a ticket for the 8pm show, but I'm guessing now it is less likely because a lot of people get there before 7:30AM just to be safe.
I can't remember how many tickets were actually given, but there was at least 8 tickets for the matinee, but probably more than that. I sat Orchestra F, which was perfect and there ended up being 4 tickets where I was sitting. Saturday is interesting because you have SOLD line sitters for both the 2pm and 8pm show, and so it looked like a lot more people than I had initially thought. I was the first single ticket in line, and figured that I would likely get into at least one of the shows. The SOLD staff were not as forthcoming initially about what show they were waiting for, I think because they don't want the lines to separate and people to end up claiming tickets for another show after the fact. (So someone goes to the 2pm line, then claims to be in front of someone in the 8pm line after they don't get tickets). The lines don't end up separating anyway, so it didn't make much of a difference. I think the next single ticket behind me came at 6am for their ticket, and it was her second time trying the cancellation line. There were a couple of people in line from Friday night too, and by the time 2pm rolled around (even before then) there were at least 20 people in line. I honestly didn't count, so sorry if that's not completely true.
A couple of things I would personally recommend:
- Bring a chair. I brought a picnic blanket but thankfully one of the guys in front of me had an old chair he wasn't using so he let me use it. I think I would have had trouble otherwise. You can sit on the steps, but on Saturday we went from the stage door area (where there were steps) to under the Marquee (closer to the Marriott) then across the street because the workers wanted to wash the sidewalks at the same time. Then we ended up back under the marquee until the show started. So it was a lot of movement in the morning.
- I know it's been mentioned, but there is a bathroom on the 8th floor of the hotel. This is a huge advance, since it's difficult to find a place in NYC where you can go to the bathroom for free. There is a couple of outlets on that floor too, and some tables where you can sit. There is also a starbucks to get tea/coffee if it gets cold (it was cold on Saturday, I had my winter jacket with me and a pair of soccer socks on) and also a pizza place across the street.
- Everyone is cordial, people know their place in line. The only person that seemed overly concerned was one of the non-SOLD sitters, she was afraid someone was going to take her spot, and I think not necessarily because of the official cancellation line tickets but for other scalpers/people who were trying to come and sell their ticket down the line before the show started.
- The SOLD people are very nice, and I don't blame them for what they are doing, There is a market, and I understand. From what I heard from them, there has only been 1 instance (since starting in the Hamilton line) where they haven't been successful in getting their client a ticket. Some of the SOLD guys in line were in line for at least 30 hours, probably longer for an 8pm ticket.
- There is also a couple, a man and his wife, who might be homeless and they don't do the line every night, but seem to make good money off of their tickets. The wife was stressed out because the first set of matinee tickets came out and her husband wasn't back and she didn't have money. When he came back, and they had called the next person in line (which was me), I was trying to tell the Hamilton staff that he was in front of me. But he wasn't ready and they didn't seem to mind because he was not watching the show himself. Also, there is another lady who apparently also does this for Shakespeare in the Park, and this was one of her first times doing the line sitting for Hamilton. She was working with the couple, mentioned earlier, to get 8pm show tickets. I also kind of got the impression she was homeless.
- Speaking of the staff, they aren't a fan of the scalpers and line sitters. Obviously, they recognize them, and I think they are trying to find a way to ensure that there are no more line sitters, but it'll be difficult to control this. And I think someone has already spoken to that issue, but all the line sitters (SOLD and otherwise) were for 2 tickets. As previously mentioned, one ticket is easier. And if a pair comes out before a single and you are next in line, you can just get a single ticket (which is what I did... they asked who was next in line, and when I asked how many tickets it was for, they just said to tell the box office how many I needed). You can also pair up with a single person behind you, which I'm sure they would be willing to do too.
- A lady came before I got my ticket trying to sell her single ticket for what she paid, I think she said $369. Someone behind me picked it up quickly and went to the ATM to get cash.
- As it gets closer to the show, 10 minutes before maybe, the Hamilton staff come out and tell you to put all the chairs away (so it looks cleaner) and we stand waiting for them to call us. It gets a little chaotic because there is the cancellation line and then the "people who already have tickets" line and they are right next to each other. But it works out okay.
I'm not sure what was released for 8pm, I left after the show was over, but everyone was still in line. I think I got my tickets 5 minutes before the show, so I had enough time to hyperventilate and be excited with the person next to me (a cancellation line sitter, her second time there, and we were both very excited to be seeing the show). It was an understudy day; I knew about Javier but I was a little disappointed that Leslie was out too. But overall, it was a great experience, both with the SOLD guys and the other people in line really wanting to get into the show.
I'm sure I'm missing stuff I meant to add, so if you have any questions that I might be able to answer, feel free to ask! (I also didn't proof this so.. bear that in mind too)
Updated On: 5/5/16 at 09:42 PM
