Hamilton In Hartford
Hundreds Line Up, Some Overnight, For Their Shot
Hundreds lined up outside the Bushnell to buy tickets to the award-winning musical, playing Dec. 11- 30.
HARTFORD — Hoping to get tickets to the award-winning musical “Hamilton,” hundreds of people lined up outside the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Hartford Saturday morning.
The line stretched down Capitol Avenue and wrapped around to Clinton Street.
Greg Packer, the first person in line, said he drove from Long Island Friday morning and stayed outside the Bushnell for more than 24 hours to get a ticket for the show, which will be in town Dec. 11-30. Packer said he hasn’t seen the musical yet because tickets for the show on Broadway are tough to come by.
“It’s impossible to get tickets in New York. I figured I’d try my luck in Hartford,” Packer said.
The popular show, which is about the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton and has music, lyrics, and book by Wesleyan graduate Lin-Manuel Miranda, has been running on Broadway since 2015. A second touring version began playing around the country earlier this year.
Paul Marte, senior communications manager for the Bushnell, said that at about 8:30 a.m., about 400 people were in line. He said most of them got in line at about 6 a.m. and included some superfans and some first-time musical-goers.
Tickets also were on sale on the Bushnell’s website. By late Saturday night, the online system indicated that at least the first 13 shows were sold out. For a Dec. 23 show, the only “Hamilton” tickets left were classified as “gold circle” in the orchestra — and priced at $498.50 apiece.
Marte said the last time the Bushnell saw long lines for a ticket sale was about 12 years ago, when a touring show of “The Lion King” came to Hartford.
Other top-selling ticket performances included “Wicked” and “The Book of Mormon,” he said.
Packer said he spent the time while waiting outside the Bushnell on his phone and eating Subway sandwiches for all of his meals. It wasn’t until 2 p.m. Friday that others got in line, he said.
Rodhe Acosta from East Hartford and Alva Fitth from South Windsor sat in beach chairs a little further down the line. They said they got in line at about 7 a.m. Saturday.