Come from Away Cancellation Line

Buoyed by our success in the Hamilton Cancellation Line, and having a free afternoon in NYC while Ashley was "Stage Dooring" it with her cousin Hayden, and his dad Chris, Don and I saw the short line for Come from Away, a 9/11 play about how the citizens of Gander, Newfoundland opened up their hearts and their homes to the 7,000 people stranded in their city. I've been listening to the music, and I cry every time. I've been crying my way through the book "The Day the World Came to Gander," the basis of the play.

There were four people ahead of us in line. Based on our experience with Hamilton, I felt we were shoo-ins. Well, no one does anything as well as Hamilton (*a lesson we learned as the day went on). Two of those people left. Three people from the person in front us joined her (she assured us, they were not interested in tickets). Okay, so we were third and fourth in line. Shoo-ins, right? Surely four people must cancel.

Thirty minutes into waiting in line, and knowing we had 90 minutes ahead of us, and knowing if we saw the show that day we'd have to come back with Ashley because she is REALLY interested in seeing the show (just not that day because she was more interested in collecting Playbills that day), we decided to buy tickets and come back in two months for my birthday.

PRO:

The Come from Away cancellation line was in the air-conditioned lobby.

CONS: 

Only one person walked away with a ticket and it was at face value (ranges from $84-$349). With the Hamilton line all tickets were sold at the "cheap" ticket price of $229, even if they were center orchestra.

No Sully the police officer keeping the peace, and keeping us updated. We had a box office employee who didn't like it we talked (unlike at Hamilton where making friends was encouraged) and didn't even seem too happy when people wanted to buy tickets.

They do offer TEN $38 day of rush tickets. I'm not sure what time of day they go on sale, but they were long gone before we arrived at 1 PM for a 3 PM show. Hamilton's lottery tickets are $10, or a "Hamilton" (look at a $10 bill to get it). Come from Away's rush tickets are 38 because 38 planes landed in Gander on September 11.

Mostly writing this post because while standing in line when I tried to search on "Come From Away Cancellation Line" I came up with nothing, other than they have a cancellation line. Hoping someone else might learn from our experience. Basically, don't count on it (which is always true), and be prepared to pay face value.

*the lesson about the magic of Hamilton was reinforced when Ashley and Hayden tried to collect Playbills. Hamilton said "sure, how many?" Some theaters insisted they were only for people attending the show that day, and other begrudgingly gave one to the kids (in some cases, one for the two of them). Later as they were standing at the stage door for "Dear Evan Hanson" as non-show attendees they were pushed to a small section and told they were not allowed to take selfies with the actors. Contrast that with Hamilton where they were chatting with Ashley about her artwork (pictures she drew of them), signing autographs, posing for selfies, and being very enthusiastic. Hamilton people seem to get that if it was not for the fans, they would be out of jobs.