Hundreds line up for chance to purchase 'Hamilton' tickets

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Hundreds of people started lining up as early as midnight to get tickets to see the popular Broadway show, "Hamilton," at Forrest Theatre this fall.

Ann Kreidle of West Philadelphia says she got to the Forrest Theatre at about 5 a.m., and she's not planning on leaving until she has 50 tickets.

"I am trying to get tickets to send a group of 8th graders to see the show," she said.

She says she gets the tickets every year for a field trip for the kids, but she's never waiting in a line as the one she was in today.

"No! I've never had to do this before. I usually call group sales," she says.

Hamilton is a musical about Alexander Hamilton. It was first performed on Broadway in 2015. Since then, it's been one of the most popular shows around the world.

"It tells it through hip hop and a whole new vocabulary that really just makes it both contemporary and timeless at the same time," says Frances Egler of the Kimmel Center.

The show is so popular the Kimmel Center had to change the way it does sales for this show to accommodate the crowd.

"We've been trying to make sure the tickets get into the hands of fans as much as possible today," said Egler.

The way it worked is everyone who showed up by about 8:30 this morning was given a wrist band and those different colored wrist bands had time slots that indicated when to come back to get the tickets, which ran anywhere from about $130 to nearly $500.

Kreidle said they're worth every penny because it's a "special night out with the teachers and something these kids will never have the chance to do on their own."