My Hamilton Cancellation Line Experience!

For those of you that know me you'll remember that I'm a big Hamilton fan so of course as soon as I found out about the Hamilton cancellation line I tried my luck at it. For those of you that don't know what it is, you can line up at the theater before the show happens for a chance at getting cancellation tickets that are great seats with normal prices. However, many people try to get them so you have to line up early to have a good chance at getting them.

I decided to try my luck on Saturday (October 1st) for the 2 PM matinee, I was going to wake up at 5 AM but I was so excited that I woke up at 3 AM and couldn't go to sleep. At 5 I got up and readied and boarded the bus to NYC at 5:30 AM. We got to NYC a few minutes after 6 and after grabbing some coffee I walked the approximately seven blocks to Richard Rodgers Theater where the line would be (on a side note, walking the streets of NYC at 6 AM in the dark was a bit creepy).

It was around 6:15 AM that I made it to the line and I ended up being the fourth person in line with three more people showing up after me at 6:37 AM. For the next two hours I listened to the Hamilton soundtrack (perfect music in this situation!) and made small talk with the people next to me. As the hours passed we actually talked a lot and that made the time pass by faster. To my left was a girl from Washington D.C. who was a huge Hamilton fan and her mom who agreed to try the cancellation line as a birthday gift. To my right were three Ph.D students from Yale who had done their undergrad at Duke in physics. At 9 AM we all entered the daily Hamilton lottery to try our luck even though we knew we wouldn't win (we didn't).

The rest of the wait we spent talking about Hamilton, playing Guess the Hamilton Song, and other topics of discussion. At 11:30 AM they offered four premium tickets which four people from the back of the line took. At 12:30 PM the first two cancellation tickets were offered (two unclaimed lottery seats) and the first person in line who arrived at 4 AM took it. About 15 minutes later a single ticket was available but since the girl and her mom wanted to sit together they let me take it!

Everyone started clapping for me as I walked up to the box office to get it (I was crying inside) and then lined up to get inside. When I finally made it inside I found out that I had a really really good seat, better than even the lottery seats. I was about seven rows back to the center and the seats were slightly elevated so I had an amazing  view.

Before the show started I had to take a couple pictures because it's not everyday you get to watch Hamilton.

The show was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING and I couldn't believe how fast the time passed and the show ended. There were alternates that day for Hamilton and Eliza and even though I was hesitant at first they ended up doing an awesome job! After the show ended I quickly rushed outside and got a great spot at the stage door. The actors for Hamilton and Eliza ended up coming outside and I got their signatures and pics with them (we had to take them quickly so I don't look too good but I was too excited to care)!

After we were told that no one else would be coming out the stage door, a couple Hamilton fans I had met and I went to the voter registration line (some Hamilton actors were manning the table) even though we weren't 18. We ended up being interviewed twice and then we got to meet Oak, the actor who played Lee, and two ensemble members!

Afterwards, I swapped numbers with some of the people I waited in line and the stage door with and headed back to NJ. Overall, the Hamilton cancellation line was an AMAZING experience, the time passed by quickly since I was always conversing with other fans and the show was of course amazing as well. I thought I was Hamilton  obsessed before but seeing the show and doing the cancellation line make me feel like my obsession has only grown, I might even do it again in November. Finally, I'm going to end my recap of this wonderful experience with a great caption of my Hamilton pics that Liv at Curly Hair Bibliophile created (it made me laugh so hard I cried).