I am in NYC for a conference this week. I’ve struck out on the lottery, but have one more night to try. Maybe third time charm will work for me and I’ll get to go tomorrow night 
I saw Beautiful on Saturday night and it was wonderful, so at least I will have had one awesome Broadway experience while I’m here.
@2VU0609 Glad to hear that you enjoyed Beautiful! The beautiful and talented Chilina Kennedy is a friend. It’s a very entertaining show!
Beautiful sounds amazing! Maybe I will get to NYC and see it this year–or next year.
Good luck in the lottery 2VU0609! You never know.
D and I saw “Beautiful” last year and it’s a terrific show. Glad you were able to see it.
No Hamilton ticket for me via the lottery, but I’m staying at the Marriott Marquis and need to check out and head for LaGuardia at 1 pm which gives me time to maybe see the #Ham4Ham right next door at the Rodgers at noon today.
@2VU0609 I do hope you made it to Ham4Ham today – it looked awesome – Cynthia Erivo singing Beyonce!
I did make it to Ham4Ham and I just barely got to see Rory O’Malley and Cynthia Erivo, but I could certainly hear her. I went down about 11:40 and asked one of the policewomen who were doing crowd control where the best spot would be. She pointed me across 46th to the Scientology HQ side. Well, that was kind of a bust. It turns out that they establish a line for those who are entering the 12:30 Wednesday lottery down the block and they get to enter an area that is cordoned off on the Rodgers side of the street after they put their names in the bucket. Others “cheat” and enter that area as well when the lottery entrants start filling that up. It started sprinkling just a few minutes before Ham4Ham was to start and up went the umbrellas among many - wimps one and all, IMO, since it wasn’t but a drizzle for the most part, and they obscured the view in a big way.
I made friends with a family from Colorado while I waited for the start (you wait way longer than the actual 3-4 minute performance). They were 3 generations with theater loving kids - a son headed to 9th grade and a daughter headed to 7th. They were on a theater “bender” and had seen 2 shows already, including Hamilton last night and were headed to The Color Purple this afternoon. The Book of Mormon fit in there somewhere. The mom and I were talking when she said “that’s Cynthia Erivo running by”, but we didn’t put it together with Rory’s tweet that today’s guest would be a Tony award winning female. The mom said almost everyone left from original cast in Hamilton was on vacation, but that the show was still wonderful. She said the guy who played John Laurens now had been original in another part, but that he was just about the only one they saw last night. The grandma said the kids had gotten her into the music, so she was just as excited about all of their theater adventure.
I would have loved to have won the ticket lottery, but still enjoyed getting a small slice of the Hamilton experience.
@2VU0609 Thanks for sharing. Sounds like fun!
Check out the Cynthia Erivo video… she nailed it!
Any suggestions for brunch spots before a matinee performance?
@doschicos Norma’s, in Le Parker Meridien, has a wonderful brunch. It’s an easy walk down to the theatre on 46th from there. You will definitely need a reservation, though. It’s a popular spot.
I haven’t gotten through all the posts yet, but there’s one toward the beginning that talks about not getting all the way through the second act when listening to it - I thought the same thing and started in the middle of Act 2 while driving to work. BIG MISTAKE - I was in tears and had to compose myself before walking in the door!
Did anyone catch the last #Ham4Ham performance? It was a way to go out with a bang with Renee performing a wonderful song that didn’t make the cut into the final show. It’s in their Facebook feed and it’s also on YouTube. Love it!
We saw yesterday’s performance and truly enjoyed it. Anything that can make me laugh and cry within minutes of each other gets 2 thumbs up from me!
Our performance had the Alexander Hamilton understudy, Michael Luwoye. Fine performance but I wouldn’t say he commanded the stage. Cast highlights were Brandon Victor Dixon as Burr (top notch), Rory O’Malley as the King, Seth Stewart as Lafayette/Jefferson (an understudy but very impressive) and Christopher Jackson as George Washington (powerful voice and displayed the proper gravitas for the role).
My only minor gripes were not getting to see Javier Munoz and that some of the dancing could have been a little tighter.
Had a pre-show lunch at Ippudo which was very yummy but loud.
Glad we had the opportunity to attend and felt very lucky scoring tickets from the Tony awards ticket sale period.
ETA: We were waiting to get in next to the lottery ticket winners. What a generous program and the winners were so thrilled!
I just saw an advertisement for a new Disney animation film Moana. Lin Manuel is a key producer for the movie so I’m sure it will have interesting music.
@coralbrook There are a couple of trailers for Moana available online, including music written (and, if I’m not mistaken, sung) by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
We’re seeing Ham in Chicago on November 5. Can’t wait!
AmEx pre-sale for some NYC tickets started this morning. I don’t have an AmEx card (saw this in my FB feed shared by the Hamilton folks) and think I am more likely to get to Chicago next summer, but just sharing:)
^ I hopped right on that this morning when I saw that notice of new tix release and early AmEx access on Facebook. (Saw Hamilton last March with all original cast but want to go again now that I know more.)
I did not have an AmEx card but immediately went to the AmEx website and found that there is a basic card with no annual fee. Promptly applied for that online (I refuse to sign up for any card that has a fee.) and they instantly approved me, and sent me my new card number online after a verification procedure. Then I went right to the link for the early access AmEx tickets and was able to get tix for late May in side orchestra row P for $199. One row ahead and one seat further in is designated AmEx Preferred and $849 so I figure I saved lots of money, LOL. 
Disclaimer: H is retiring and I am retired and we are not far from NYC so can do a day trip for a Wed. matinee. I figured a weekday matinee would give us the best options so chose that pronto. I had not been able to get the Tony release batch that night – computer access was jamming – and was very disappointed, but this new opportunity made up for that.
I refuse to pay above theater list price for tix but am obsessed by this show and so glad I had been able to get my first tix to this show early (thanks in part to posts on CC lauding it as it was moving to Broadway). That, too, was a Wed. matinee and hubby took off a day from work.
I feel so grateful for this show, for Lin-Manuel Miranda and the rest of the talented people behind Hamilton, and for my being in a position to indulge in this obsession.
Perhaps others here can try what I did. For those who don’t have or want an AmEx card, new batch of tix will be available to all on Monday a week from today (9/26).
D17 visited Lafayette College last weekend, and was already singing the name of the school in the manner of “Guns and Ships” every time she had to say it, and upon discovering there is a Hamilton Street on campus she really lost all control.
One of Lafayette’s common app extensions is a “Why Lafayette?” essay. Willing to wager whether there will be anyone referencing the musical in their essay?
Well, @stencils, has she visited Hamilton College yet? 