Hamilton – Puerto Rican style

My husband and I saw Lin-Manuel Miranda in Hamilton Saturday and it was all I had hoped for. But boy was this adventure a crazy ride. Never have I (virtually) pushed and shoved to get tickets for a musical. (Literal pushing and shoving for Broadway tickets in the big Apple is another tale haha)

There was general confusion about how to go about getting tickets. There would be $10 tickets for PR residents! Excellent! I live here! Not so fast –  I didn’t realize that this was the same deal given to every city hosting the show. And it’s a lottery so you might not get tickets and if you do, you find out only days beforehand. Not the best option to guarantee tickets or to prep child care. We decided to fork over the cash and but tickets the morning they went on sale.

Online I waited with thousands of other people to be put into a virtual waiting room and randomly assigned a number in line to buy a max of four tickets.  I was extremely lucky and was put in the front of the line.  Sales started at 9am and by 9:08 I was in the checkout process.  BUT! I wanted to buy 4 tickets. The screen kept telling me that that amount wasn’t available for ANY show I tried.  I finally gave up trying to buy four and ended up with only two for the matinee I wanted.  That was really stressful!

I later found out that I was the only person out of all my friends to actually get tickets.  The rest would play the $10 lottery.  (believe me – my ticket was much more than $10). So the $10 for Puerto Rico residents was just like any other city the show toured it.

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So bright in line!

Our lovely friends who have a home in San Juan watched our kids while we saw the show. Apparently everyone else thought to get to the theatre a half hour early because there was a long, sunny entrance line.  Trevor began regretting wearing a formal coat! But we were glad we dressed up as everyone else did likewise.

The finally entered with about 8 minutes to spare before showtime. Security practically shoved us inside because there was still a line out the door.  I don’t know how they managed to start the show at 1:38! not bad!

The audience seemed to be mostly Puerto Ricans. The couple next to us came to the island without tickets but with the hope they could score some. Lo and behold they made friends with someone in their hotel lobby who was connected to the show and sold them two tickets that had been cancelled.  IMG_1563-sm

When Lin-Manuel Miranda came on the stage the audience deafeningly roared for over a solid minute.  I suspect that happened for all his shows, but I also suspect that this was a but more than usual. The actors just held their poses then resumed the singing once we finally quieted down.  I sure hope they soak that moment in because it was quite energetic.  IMG_1564-sm

The lady behind us cheered obnoxiously loud (I loved it) for some actors; King George was of Puerto Rican decent.  Auditions were held locally for signers and dancers last fall but I didn’t see any locals in the cast list so who knows what happened there.

Trevor wanted to read the synopsis but I had to translate the program for him because it was in Spanish!

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Lin-Manuel whipped out a Puerto Rican flag from his pocket after the bows

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The people cheered and cheered after they left the stage – hoping for a speech or encore. None happened

The show was AWESOME and so worth it!

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10 person deep crowd for memorabilia

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