Hundreds of hopeful fans lined up in downtown Chicago last week to get their hands on tickets to the award-winning musical “Hamilton.” Some even camped out on the sidewalk overnight on Monday, June 20, eager to see this year’s hottest Broadway show.
The line began outside The Private Bank Theatre and wrapped all the way around the block. For many patient people, there was no shade in which to escape from the sweltering 90-degree temperatures, but they claimed suffering through the heat was worth it to score tickets to “Hamilton,” which won 11 Tony Awards.
“I have wanted to see this show since before it opened. I love LLM [Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of the musical], and I have so many friends in New York who’ve seen it, and I’ve envied them so much, because this musical is amazing. It’s about the American experience; the way it’s cast, the way it’s sung, it’s just everything that makes America great,” said Olivia Wong.
The award-winning hip-hop musical about the United States’ first Treasury Secretary was an instant hit among Americans from diverse demographics. The racially and ethnically diverse fans in line in Chicago said that the show’s heterogeneous cast drew them to the musical.
“Hamilton was an immigrant, and as the daughter of immigrants, the theme really stuck with me,” said one patiently waiting fan, Rocio Valladares.
The show opens on September 27 and will run for a total of 199 performances until March 19. Though tickets are available by phone at 800-775-2000 or online at broadwayinchicago.com, fans should expect prices to reach outrageous heights the longer they wait. By 11 a.m. on Tuesday, there were still available tickets advertised online for $117; however, by noon ticket prices were ranging from $369 to $8,000 on the StubHub ticket resale website.
Considering that fans in New York paid upwards of $15,000 per ticket, the people patiently suffering in the 90-degree heat in Chicago seem slightly less insane. The average person has between two and four million sweat glands acting as the body’s coolant system to protect it from overheating, and there’s no question that every single one of them was hard at work for those eager fans trying to score “Hamilton” tickets in Chicago this month.
