My Hamilton Cancellation line experience and how we all got fucked over in the end
I’ve read about the cancellation line for a while now and have talked to a few people who have done it before. I decided to do it this week (06/20/2016) because i had a few days off from work and really want to see Lin, Leslie and Phillipa before they leave.
I got there Tuesday night at around 9pm and was informed almost immediately that to keep everything fair for the people who have arrived both before me and who will arrive after me, there is a list (runned by people in line) where you write down your name, are assigned a number (i started out as number 35) and the people ahead of you get their tickets, you move further and further up in the line until it’s your turn. It was a very fair way to ensure that the people got their tickets in their oder of arrival and that no one was cheated out of their spot by someone trying to cut.
From Tuesday to Friday, this system worked perfectly. Everyone got to see the show in the order that they arrived in, There were absolutely no problems and we had a lot of free time to go eat sleep and shower. Basically, you had to be back by midnight, since were not allowed to be in front of the theater during performances. Whoever was in charge of the list that day would read the names off in order and then we would set up camp for the night under the Richard Rodgers theater. We had to sleep there; if you left before we were dispersed, you would loose your spot, which is totally fair to the people who had been there for days sleeping outside.
Because I got there on a Tuesday night (06/21/16) and Wednesday there’s the matinee performance and the Ham4Ham show, we were told to disperse by the theater and to reconvene after both the matinee and the evening show. Friday was a similar situation because they were filming and needed the entrance to the theater cleared. If we weren’t there, it wasn’t because we wanted to leave, it’s because the theater told us too.
We all always came back by the agreed time, took roll call, made a video at the end of the night with everyone saying their number in line so that in the morning we could know who was her and who wasn’t and moved further and further up in line as days passed and more people got in. This system worked perfectly. No one complained. We all agreed, and i’m sure you will too, that it was a very fair way to run the line. It was an honor system to those before you who have spent DAYS sleeping out in the streets trying to get tickets and would ensure that they don’t get fucked over in the end.
Like I said, this worked perfectly for the first three days I was there, then on Friday (06/24/16) things started getting bad.
By Friday, I was number 11 in line (been sleeping out there for three days by then mind you) so that meant that I could stand in the physical cancellation line before the show because the theater only allows the first 20 on the list to stand by since they don’t wanna cause traffic for those who are coming to the show with tickets.
They block us off at around 2 hours before showtime. Me and the people around me were having so much fun (Lin came in through the stage door and wished us all good luck!) because we knew that if not that night, then tomorrow we would get in for sure.
So what happens? Some self entitled brat called Jeremy (pictured below)
comes into the line basically demanding a spot even though he just got there and had not slept outside once, while everyone who was in line at that point had been there for days (the first guy in line had been there since Sunday). He started arguing with the guy who was currently running the list and started calling him out because he was a line sitter. Now, I have absolutely no problems with line sitters since all the ones in our line (there were around 4) we’re really nice and respectful. This line sitter in particular had been running Hamilcamp (what we started calling the cancellation line) flawlessly, as i recently explained. This Jeremy guy was basically being a little bitch because he wanted a ticket that night and wasn’t going to get it; completely ignoring the 30+ people on the list that have been waiting for their tickets patiently and sleeping outside.
So what happens? This Jeremy guy starts blasting the line sitter on twitter (I suspect they might have been deleted since but if you find them, send them to me) saying the list is unfair because the other people behind the 21 aren’t there so he should be 21. Again, the Theater only allowed the first 20 on the list to standby for tickets and told the others to return later. After continuously complaining for the remainder of the two hours, (we all tried to ignore him as best as we could) He put his name on the list and left. He didn’t come back that night for roll call so we went on as usual. Read the names off the list (I was now number 6 in line), took the video and went to sleep.
I woke up that Saturday morning (06/25/16) super excited because I knew for sure I was getting into the show today wether it be matinee or evening show. I waited along with the friends i made in line who I met that Tuesday night when I got her and who have been sleeping outside with me for FOUR DAYS. Don’t quote me but I’m pretty sure that is the longest anyone has had to wait in the cancellation line up to now. Anyways, we were all really excited when the theater blocked off the first 20. Then what happens? An hour before showtime, we learn that Lin, Leslie, Phillipa and Chris would not be performing in the matinee.
I was absolutely devastated and so were the people around me. We all camped out for FOUR DAYS, obviously, because we wanted to see Lin, Leslie and Phillipa before their final performance. When they started calling for cancellation tickets, i contemplated really hard and decided to pass the matinee in favor for the evening show (as did many others in line with me) where i was sure at least one of the three i came to see would be there. Because so many people in line were passing tickets, things got a little crazy and people who weren’t even in the cancellation line to begin with, snuck in and took the remaining tickets for the matinee. After all the cancellation tickets had been given, The theater told the remaining of the 20 to disperse until after the show and come back at 5 o’clock so that we can line up again for the evening show.
I was so anxious for the rest of the afternoon, not knowing if this had all even been worth it or not. In the end, I was right. It wasn’t. I thought that the worst case scenario for that night would be that maybe none of them returned for the show. I was wrong.
I got back to the theater at a little after 4pm because I was nervous and wanted to see if there was any word on the cast for that evening’s show. Me and the girls that i was with who were also on the cancellation line with me, were met by a huge crowd and a line manager (who has been abiding by our list for the past FOUR DAYS) who basically said “fuck you” to the system that has been working flawlessly since I got there on Tuesday night, and started picking 20 people at random to join the cancellation line. I was in tears at that point. He randomly selected me to go into the newly bullshitted cancellation line but I went from being number 5 to being number 11. The girl who had been number 1 on the list, who had been there again, for FOUR DAYS was now number 13.
I knew for sure that i was not getting in. They’ve only been releasing around 9-11 cancellation tickets a day for sometime now and with 10 people ahead of me getting 2 each, I was ticket number 21. Sure enough, I didn’t get in. Me and my line buddies were devastated. We were crying. It’s just not fair. We were out there for FOUR DAYS, Over 96 hours! We respected their rules and did as we were told only to get fucked over by the Richard Rodgers theater. This line manager took it upon himself to pick out 20 random people at 4pm for the line when we who had been waiting there were told earlier to come back at 5:30 to reassemble our line by a previous manager.
I had to watch as people who just happened to be there coincidently walked into the theater with the tickets me and my line buddies had worked so hard and waited so long to get. We tried to explain to the people ahead of us the situation but they basically told us to fuck off cause as long as you get a ticket, who the fuck cares about the people that have been waiting for FOUR DAYS to get that ticket that you did absolutely nothing for.
And then the woman in front of me had the nerve to complain that she had to stand there for an hour in line only to not get a ticket. Are you kidding me?
Afterwards someone came out and talked to the group of people left over from the 20 that were suppose to get their tickets that night. We asked why the line manager changed the line all of a sudden when he himself had been abiding by them and the list for the last four days. We asked why we were told to come back at 5:30 and then all of a sudden people were being picked at random at 4pm. We received very shady answers in return. I had no idea why it had turned out this way.
I was later informed that Jeremy:
(again just so you can know and memorize the face of what a self entitled prick looks like)
wrote an email to the theater saying how the line is unfair when, in reality, it everything but unfair. He was just pissed cause he wanted to wait for a ticket without actually doing any waiting. Because of him, all the people that has been waiting there, myself included, sleeping on the streets of NYC in the summer, FOR FOUR DAYS, 96+ HOURS IN TOTAL, got majorly fucked over and wasted all this time just to watch someone go in with our ticket.
It’s not fair. It’s not right. I’m so devastated. I had to call out of work twice just to stay out her for these tickets. I don’t live in NYC and this was my shot and it got taken away from me and my line buddies for no apparent reason. I for sure would have gotten into the Saturday night show and had to watch as people who knew the situation, because we explained it to them, tell us to fuck off because, like I said, who cares about how much people have waited or all the work put into something as long as you get it right?
Please help spread this. Tweet it, reblog it, I don’t care. The theater took the names and numbers of everyone who got screwed over yesterday, (Saturday-06/25/16) but I think we all know they’re not gonna do anything with it.
It’s not fair that we were respectful, followed their rules and worked with them perfectly for us to get screwed over in the end just because people don’t wanna work for anything and want things handed to them. Hamilton was such an amazing part of my life but now I can’t even think about it without relating it to this awful experience.
I’m devastated because every single person was treated fairly, followed the rules, slept out there for 96+ hours, had so much fun with everyone around them, only to get lied to by the Richard Rodgers theater and fucked over because of some self entitle prick.
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