I haven’t posted a historical travel blog in quite some time. I’ll correct that with a four-part series about my trip to New York city to see Hamilton–both the musical and the man.
Part 1: The Stage Door
On Wednesday, Mike and I flew to New York to finally see Hamilton the Musical. I had a countdown on my phone which I checked every day for six months. Finally, we were landing in the Greatest City In The World.
On the descent to Laguardia, I pointed out Revolutionary War sites to Mike. Some obvious ones, anyway. To start going into the Kip’s Bay Affair would necessitate explaining the Kip’s Bay Affair, and at that point we would have landed and missed the site where Nathan Hale embarked on his secret mission.
We checked into our hotel and then I stuffed my Hamiltome into my bag and conveniently found an Italian joint just around the corner from the Richard Rodgers Theater. Oh, hey, *innocent laugh* what are we doing here?
After dinner we headed back to the theater and the stage door. It was surreal seeing the theater doors all decked out in Hamilswag just like I’ve seen in every Ham4Ham video. A small crowd had already started to gather so we joined in. (Somewhat awkwardly. I was about 20 years older than the average stage door groupie, excepting parental chaperones…)
It didn’t take long for the crowd to grow. So we tried to stay as close to the door as we could. Eventually a security guard put barricades up to give the actors room from the masses. At this point the crowd was pretty deep and I was right up against the rail so I couldn’t have left if I wanted. This is the scenes about two hours in:
The crowd got a little restless and began cheering for everyone who came out (many of which were simply friends and family of the cast and crew.) Some ignored it, but others really got into it. Like one older gentleman who gave high-fives the whole way down the line.
We did hear yelling from the other doors at one point–apparently Daveed Diggs had snuck out, but didn’t want to do the autograph thing. I didn’t see him.
It just happened to be Jon Rua’s [“Charles Lee”] last day on the show. He did come out and graciously signed and selfied his way down the line. I’m pretty sure I was on his Snapchat when he broadcasted the insanity live.
A bit later Rory O’Malley came out. The crowd went nuts. He smiled his King George smile for cameras and signed but urged “Safety First” because some of us were squished against the railing like a human pancakes. The crowd didn’t really listen but I appreciated his looking out for us.
King George is Webmaster Mike’s favorite character so I was glad we were able to get his autograph. He is just as adorable in person as you’d expect him to be.
Not long after Rory left the security guard came out and told us that was it, no one else was coming out. It took awhile for the crowd to disperse, but eventually they believed him. Everyone was holding onto hope that Lin might pop his head out. He didn’t.
Three hours later, I had some signatures in the ol’ Hamiltome and had felt the Found Father Without A Father fever pitch first hand. Not a bad way to start the trip.
NEXT: Hamiltour Part 2: The Room Where It Happens