Hamilton Cancellation Line

[delongpre]

If people in line are able to buy as many tickets as they want, what's to stop them from buying all of them and reselling? I never heard of a no-limit cancellation line, nor have I heard of not having to have all members of the party present to purchase the seats.

[haterobics]

Seeing that the majority of seats seem to happen minutes before showtime, how attractive is this option to potential scalpers?! Sit around for 8 hours and every so often you might get lucky?

[spidernight]

the policy has been changed and people in line cannot buy as many as they want anymore. The limit is 2 now.

[ChiTheaterFan]

When my friends and I went to Hamilton last weekend we saw someone get in line who had paid someone to stand in line for her all day. She told the security guys her friend had been in line and she was going to stand with him but then we noticed her giving the guy money. I guess he had been entertaining the cancellation line crowd, and I didn't see anyone complain which surprised me. I would be annoyed if I were in line. I always kind of like cancellation lines. You bring a book and meet new people. As long as the weather is nice it's kind of fun. There's a sense of camaraderie with everyone hoping for the same thing. Seems like if you're going to pay someone to stand in line you might as well just buy a resale ticket which is a sure thing. 

[haterobics]

You can get a line sitter and a regularly priced ticket for much cheaper than a scalped ticket.

 

I guess I'm just confused why the cancellation line is where we expect a show to finally draw the line on scalping, considering one third of every performance seem to be secondary market upsells.

[ChiTheaterFan]

Fair enough. I guess I just kind of like the bonding experience of spending the day with other theater lovers who are so dedicated they'll stand in line for 6 hours to see a show. It kind of takes something away from that to have people paying line fillers. I wish there was something that could be done about scalpers and the secondary market but I don't think there are any real good solutions since people do have legitimate reasons for needing to give up tickets. The cancellation line is one place where the theater staff can at least see what's going on. 

[AlanR2]

Interesting thread and I am considering this option, rather than $1,000 tickets.  A couple of questions...

Do they let you wait inside?  If I go on a cold morning will I be standing out in the cold? What time would they open?

I read that you can sign up for both matinee and evening.  If you don't get a matinee ticket, would you have to remain standing in the line till evening to get the other ticket?

Many thanks 

 

 

[haterobics]

AlanR2 said: "What time would they open? If you don't get a matinee ticket, would you have to remain standing in the line till evening to get the other ticket?"

 

10 a.m. and yes, on those.

[Emma MK]

I was wondering if anyone could help me with a couple of questions.

 

For those of you who have been in the cancellation line, does the first person in line usually get a ticket? Or do you know if there have been times where there have been 0 cancellations? Also, from your experience, are the cancellation line tickets usually $400+ tickets or have you been able to get cheaper tickets?

 

Im coming from the UK to NY in March for 4 days and would love to see Hamilton, but cannot afford the resale prices on Ticketmaster. I often queue for tickets in London so i have no problem queueing for long periods of time, im just wary because i like to plan my trips so that i dont waste an evening (which is why i dont rely on lotteries) as i hope to fit 6 shows in the 4 days i am there.

 

Thank you in advance for anyone that can offer advice and tales of their experiences.

[Crateful]

I got in line at 5pm on a Friday.  There were three people ahead of me.  I got a ticket, but only because the first three actually passed on the tickets that were offered.  They didn't want to pay full price for close-up seats and actually said they were waiting for "something near the back."

[FindingNamo]

But then again, aren't we all?

[Emma MK]

Crateful said: "I got in line at 5pm on a Friday.  There were three people ahead of me.  I got a ticket, but only because the first three actually passed on the tickets that were offered.  They didn't want to pay full price for close-up seats and actually said they were waiting for "something near the back."

 

How much was the ticket you managed to get? Was it a $400+ ticket?

 

[cjmclaughlin10]

If you turn down a premium ("400+" ticket you can still stay in the line. If you turn down a standard ticket ($175),  then you must leave the line 

buying a premium if it becomes available usually gets you out of the line quicker because premiums are converted to standards afiew minutes before showtime (sometimes returns are brought in and sold to the cancelation line throughout the day)

[Emma MK]

cjmclaughlin10 said: "If you turn down a premium $400+ ticket you can still stay in the line. If you turn down a standard ticket ($175),  then you must leave the line 

 

buying a premium if it becomes available usually gets you out of the line quicker because premiums are converted to standards afiew minutes before showtime (sometimes returns are brought in and sold to the cancelation line throughout the day)

 

I knew that already, but thanks anyway. I cannot afford $400+ for a ticket so am hoping that by being first in line if any cheaper tickets do become available then i would get lucky.

 

[CercleRouge]

Does anyone know what time people start lining up for EVENING cancellation tickets? Thank you!

[SamHoffman523]

What time do people start lining up for the Saturday matinees with Javier? Is 10 fine?

[SDV]

^^^ I don't know the answer to your question, but Javier does the Sunday matinees. Lin does both Saturday shows.

[CercleRouge]

I think only 5 cancellation tickets were released for today's show. I was around #15, but luckily right when the show was about to start, I grabbed some incredible tickets that had popped up on StubHub and the price was dropping every 10 minutes. Got 2 seats in Orchestra Row J, dead center, for $145 each (plus fees of course). Face value on these was $477!

[lady godiva2]

[lady godiva]

What time did you get in line, Cercle? And were the stubhub tix pickup (so no need for a printer)? Thanks in advance!

[CercleRouge]

I think I got there around 3pm.

 

I still had to print the tickets, so I ran next door to the Marriott Marquis, and sprinted up 8 escalators because the elevators were totally backed up and there were probably 100 people waiting for one. Printed the tickets in the annoying Fedex Business Center on the 8th floor of the hotel, ran back downstairs, and was in the theater by 7:09. I can't believe our seats or how cheap (relatively) they were. The first two people in the cancellation line were paid line-sitters, both of those groups presumably got inside, and then one single person from the next group. 

[Dancingthrulife2]

I was in line yesterday. I got there at 1 pm, #4 in line, and luckily got a $199 ticket after waiting 6 hours on the freezing street. They released 2 premium tickets round 3 pm, but no one in line took them. No regular price ticket was released until literally 5 minutes before the show. The first two got 2 tickets each, so at least they released 6 regular price tickets. The seat was Row H side orchestra, which personally worked better than the center front row lottery ticket I got the first time I saw the show.  

[CercleRouge]

That's awesome you got a lottery ticket at some point. Once I got in yesterday, I was looking at front row and thinking it wasn't even that good of a seat.

[funhamilton_rent]

I'm trying to find tix, and this might be a good option. If I'm going for an 8pm Friday performance (in January) when should I get there to guarantee two tickets? And can I call the box office in advance? 

[Dancingthrulife2]

So it look like one can get a ticket at a reasonable price through 1) lottery, 2) cancelation line, or 3) last-minute scalper ticket. Of course, nothing is guaranteed, especially option 1). I will monitor stub-hub for a while to see how often option 3 works. 

And CercleRouge, I think you can ask the venue to print out the ticket for you. I saw someone ran directly to the box office, and they printed him two tickets.

[lady godiva]

Just for perspective, it's 6:15 and I'm number four in line. Not sure what time the people ahead of me started queueing.