I chased the deadline for the special window for Citibank/Unionbank credit card holders as we are given the privilege to have the first dibs on tickets since the bank is a major sponsor of Hamilton’s Philippine run. I didn’t try my luck booking when the window opened last Monday because Ticketnet was wonky. It turns out, the website was crashing because everyone was trying to book. I told myself, nah, let them go nuts, I will just do it before the window closes.

So I just finished booking at midnight, which is an hour ago.

Well, the tickets I was able to buy are for November—that’s how in demand this musical is. I couldn’t get tickets for orchestra seats that are next to each other during the September to October runs. I don’t want to watch from the balcony…it sucks. I did that with Les Miserables (I was late in booking). Good thing about Les Miserables is that it’s an ensemble musical, so I really didn’t have to be close to the stage. Besides, I knew the musical by heart.

But Hamilton is different in a sense it’s not something I am super familiar with compared to other musicals that have been here like Miss Saigon, Phantom, Les Mis, Cats, Wicked, Mama Mia, etc. I need to be in the orchestra seat. Unfortunately, the seats I got for Hamilton are not at the center…because again, I was very late in booking tonight. It almost slipped my mind because I was too busy with so many things.

And since Hamilton is in November, that meant I would no longer be a Metro Manila citizen by that time. Ergo, I would be driving all the way from my hometown 😢 and God knows what kind of weather we will be having that time. My sister already gave up her condo in Mandaluyong and she can’t drive her car on the day we are scheduled to watch because its plate number is banned every Tuesdays…So our recourse is to book a room at Solaire (next to the Solaire Theater where Hamilton is going to be shown). This is proving to be an expensive affair 😂.

Well, my sister flew to Sydney from Brisbane to watch Les Mis on her own…so that one is much more expensive 🤣.

If I would need fly to watch these productions, I might as well go straight to Broadway in New York. But I’ve never been that enamoured of the US and if I were, I would have been there a long time ago. I haven’t found any compelling reason to go there except for one instance…which I don’t want to think about right now.

So anyway, the other reason that would propel me to go to the US is to watch theater productions in Broadway and off-Broadway. Of course, this former theater actress has to have her priorities in life straight 🤣. To make my trip worthwhile, I might as well go to museums and go food tripping, in that order. Other than that, there’s no reason for me to go there. Europe is more of my thing.