Hamilton tickets in Manila are sold via a digital lottery. Thank God I managed to get two Hamilton tickets on Facebook for my husband and me last August. This was the third time this year that I bought tickets from strangers, hoping that the tickets were legit (which we would only be able to confirm once we got to the venue and had the codes scanned), relying on gut feeling, and doing some background checks on the seller (I found out that the friend of the seller whom I had initial contact with is a ‘kakampink‘ and yes, for me, ‘that carries some weight!’ ✌) so that the money wouldn’t be wasted.

I had to make an initial downpayment of 50% to the seller to secure the tickets, as the Hamilton seats were fully booked, and other people were also looking to buy online. The remaining 50% would be paid once we got into the theater.

So far, this has been the most reassuring online ticket transaction I’ve had. Vaughn (the seller) and Biel (the best friend of the seller who received the ticket as a gift from Vaughn but couldn’t attend because of work) joined me in a video call. They answered all my questions, and if Vaughn was unsure about anything, he made sure to speak to a TicketWorld representative the following day to verify and then got back to me with detailed information without me needing to follow up. They were also kind enough to wish us well in our Hamilton experience and agreed to let me pay the remaining 50% once we returned to our hotel. What a smooth and seamless ticket transaction – faith in humanity restored! Haha!

According to Rappler, “Philippines was the ‘natural choice’ for the Asian premiere of ‘Hamilton’”. Thank God I was able to find tickets on a date that was close to my birthday because I (and my husband) deserve a Hamilton birthday experience and we wouldn’t need to travel abroad to watch it. Another thing, back in grade school, my husband and I played the lead roles of a husband and wife in a theatrical play. Who would have thought that 26 years later, we would be able to watch Hamilton together and that the love for theater once instilled in us could grow this much?

Everything went well during the Hamilton experience, except for my heels, which didn’t cooperate – the strap broke as we headed towards the theater. Good thing I trusted my gut feeling and brought another pair of sandals so tuloy ang ligaya and the rampa was unstoppable! Haha!

We arrived 1 hour and 30 minutes earlier than the ticket time. My husband still had time to grab a quick meal at the theater’s cafe. We even managed to take pictures and had our photos taken with an old friend’s sister who happened to be watching as well, along with my godchild and her sister, na hindi na ko matandaan for sure.

Happy pictures and videos below:

On the way to Door 7.

The stage

The time indicated on the tickets was 6 pm. This means they will allow you to enter the theater at 6 pm, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the play will start right away. Good strategy!

I love all of them!

The coda

My favorite character. Go figure!

The souvenir. And yes, I am not throwing away my ‘shot’.

World-class and award-winning musical. Brilliant actors. Hip-hop soundtrack. Every detail was of great significance. The actors’ voices were incredibly clear and smooth. I wonder how they manage to preserve and maintain their voices so clean and seamless! There was no weak link in the musical! So happy to experience this amazing and beautiful masterpiece!