I suddenly knew what it felt like to find a Golden Ticket to visit the Wonka Factory when the seemingly impossible happened:
I WON THE HAMILTON LOTTERY Y'ALL!
Which meant two incredible things happened:
1. I got to purchase two tickets for only TWO HAMILTONS!
2. I got to sit in THE FIRST ROW!
And of course, "Hamilton" didn't disappoint, but that feeling of excitement during the experience of just being in that audience is something I'll hold onto forever.
And when I woke up the next morning, I was SERIOUSLY floating on air! For someone like me who keeps and collects all of the Playbills for every Broadway show they attend, having THAT ONE in my collection seriously felt like finding a Golden Ticket.
"Hamilton" will floor you from start-to-finish, and afterward, you'll find that you can't stop smiling when listening to the songs while replaying the moments from the show in your head.
And then you either move on...or you go from being captivated to just plain "Hamilton" obsessed.
Here are the symptoms you may experience if you find yourself going into post-"Hamilton" withdrawal...
1. You still continue to enter the "Hamilton" lottery daily so you can take a different friend and make their day!
Hamilton Official App - Lottery
(But mostly because you want to experience the magic a second time...)
2. You also listen to the soundtrack on Spotify almost daily...
In the car, on your phone, and wherever else!
3. And being that you’ll never grow tired of the songs, you also place an online order for the two-disc “Hamilton” Original Broadway Cast Recording AND the “Hamilton Mixtape”.
Hamilton - Broadway Merchandise Shop
(Even though they'll just sit on a shelf and collect dust…)
4. While you're at it, you also load up your online shopping cart with “Hamilton” apparel and other merch...
Hamilton - Broadway Merchandise Shop
Worth every Hamilton…
5. You scour YouTube for video footage of “Hamilton” productions or rehearsals...which turns out to be scarce. ☹️
(The closest thing you find are "Hamilton" numbers performed by theatrical YouTubers…)
6. Every time you spot the name of a “Hamilton” character when you’re out and about, you spontaneously break into song.
And this happens often—Hamilton, Jefferson, Washington are all commonly found on street signs! 😂
7. You feel compelled to read the biography that inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda to create “Hamilton”: “Alexander Hamilton” by Ron Chernow.
(But less than halfway through you get bored and put it down in favor of "Hamilton: the Revolution" by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter.)
8. You do, however, find pleasure in reading the Wikipedia pages for Alexander Hamilton, Elizabeth Schuyler, Aaron Burr, Angelica Schuyler, and more!
(Especially when you discover historical accuracies in "Hamilton" here and there...)
9. You also begin planning trips to “Hamilton”-relevant historical spots.
The Hamilton-Burr Dueling Grounds in Weehawken, New Jersey is a no-brainer, but there's also a plethora of other historical sites for "Hamilton" fanatics to visit!
10. You plan on returning to the theater to wait by the stage door in the hopes that the principal cast members might come out to greet fans!
And, of course, you have your Playbill handy with a pen for autographs, and your iPhone camera ready to snap a selfie! 🤩
And this is where I note that I have not actually done all of these things…
...only some of them. 😂
Have you been lucky enough to win tickets to be in "The Room Where it Happens"? Tweet me about your "Hamilton" experience @missjulia1207!
