Hundreds stand in line for 'Hamilton' tickets in Tampa

TAMPA (FOX 13) - Tickets for an award-winning show on Broadway go on sale in Tampa, and plenty of people were standing in line hours before the sale started.

The Straz Center in the downtown area will start selling tickets for Hamilton at 9 a.m. Hours before the sale, nearly 800 people had already lined up. Officials said they were not surprised at the large turnout.

“Everybody has heard of the show,” said Summer Bohnencamp, vice president of marketing. “It’s the story of America then told by the America now. It’s something everyone can relate to. Everyone wants to come up and do better.”

She said to avoid receiving a fake ticket, “make sure you are looking at your URL, (and) make sure you are seeing that you are on our website,” otherwise it is a scam.

“Brokers have a lot more money that they are paying for placement in (a Google) search,” she explained. “Prices are inflated and anyone who says they have a ticket they can send you right now isn’t telling the truth. We have mailed out no tickets, even our season ticket-holders have no tickets.”

People interested in purchasing tickets were allowed to line up on property at 5 a.m. By 5:30 a.m., officials began handing out numbered wristbands, and even then, you aren’t promised a ticket since it is a lottery system. 

Those with a wristband will be called to the window at 9 a.m. People who arrived after 7 a.m., will only be able to attempt to buy tickets after the 5 a.m. crowd.

Tickets can be purchased online, at strazcenter.org, and at the ticket window. They range from $86 to $489, and you can purchase up to four of them.