CLEVELAND — Reports of widespread office and workplace inactivity swamped the Cleveland area this morning as Playhouse Square opened the general public sale for tickets to Hamilton. A virtual waiting room greeted those hoping to score seats for the critically acclaimed play. Progress was measured by a little digital man inching his way across the screen.
“It’s kind of mesmerizing,” said one woman who declined to give her name. “He’s just there, marching and marching and marching. You have to admire his patience.”
“Yeah, he’s just resigned to his fate, whatever it is, like the rest of us,” said a coworker from the next cube over. “Walking into the future and the unknown, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.”
Furious updates between spouses, friends and families were exchanged over texts, gchats and emails, each containing an approximation of how far Little Man was from the finish line.
“Looks like 60%, where are you,” one frazzled daughter texted her mom.
“Hi!
Pretty close.
It doesn’t show a percentage though?
Where do you see that?
[fingers crossed emoji] [fingers crossed emoji] [fingers crossed emoji]
Luv u,” responded the mother.
Some workers feared being criticized by managers for spending the first hour or two of the day doing absolutely nothing but staring at the digital man’s slow, agonizing progress.
Attempts to reach those managers were unsuccessful, as they too were staring at the digital man’s slow, agonizing progress.
Playhouse Square box office employees, meanwhile, are expected to leave work early today, retiring to Parnell’s next door on Euclid Ave. where they will drink every last bit of white wine available.
This article appears in Apr 11-17, 2018.
Currently in queue…..
My daughter got into the queue when it opened at 7 am to get 4 tickets for our family. I got into the queue when I got to work at 8 am to get tickets for my boss. My wait time was about 25 minutes and I was successful in getting 2 tickets. When I texted my daughter, she was still in the queue and not even halfway! How was I able to get into the queue an hour later and successfully get two tickets for my boss? Sadly, my daughter was still not in by 11 and had to leave her place in line. When she called to inquire and got through about 10:45 about certain priced tickets she was told those were gone…but yet she was still in the queue patiently waiting to get our family tickets. Sadly, we are not going to any of the dates since we cannot afford the tickets in the higher price ranges. I am glad I got my boss 2 tickets, but I am wondering how I was able to get through the queue faster than my daughter who was waiting for already an hour in line ahead of me?
Real007
By the time I got “my shot” all that was left were $435 tickets…passed. Hopefully it will come back around in a few years and be part of the Broadway Series subscriptions and I’ll get tickets when I renew…oh well
When you entered the queue before 9 you were randomly placed in line…it didn’t matter whether you entered at 7 or 8:59. It wasn’t first come, first serve.
Because there was no advantage to getting in the queue early. At 9am everyone in the queue was assigned a random number. Only those who joined after 9 am were put in the order they joined. So it made no sense to join the queue prior to a few min before 9 according to the paper and the playhouse square website.
I had three different computers trying to get in. One of them made it in about 20 minutes, but there were still no groups of tickets available at the lower prices. I was also trying to buy 4 for my family. I did end up getting 4 separate tickets for the same date. Not ideal, but we can deal with sitting apart and all still go together.