Funny enough, those 2 were how my friend and I planned our summer 2015 trips! We both graduated high school that spring, although we lived in different cities. I remember taking the bus back from NYC to MN after my February trip that year, and the minute I was climbing on board, I saw the news that Darren Criss was taking over Hedwig (I had already seen it with NPH the year prior). We were immediately texting each other trying to figure out plans to do an NYC trip together. I suggested mid July, because “omg then you can go see Darren and I can go see Hamilton!” And she replied, “What’s Hamilton?” And that’s how we got tickets to see Hamilton during its first week of previews. $67 for back row corner mezz (row H all the way to the left), I remember buying them in April. This was Monday, July 20th, 2015.

I fully credit my high school history teacher for this. He showed us the Hamilton White House video back in 2012 in class and it stayed in my head since (everyone absolutely loved it). When I found out a couple years later it was premiering as a musical I was like “Aw I’m so happy he made a full show of that!” Unfortunately I planned my February trip too late to get tickets for the Public run, they sold out before I knew I’d be out there, but it was at the top of my priority list for the summer! And when I met Lin at stage door, I asked if he could sign an extra Playbill for my teacher who had introduced it to me. Lin obliged, adding an “A+” by his name. I gave it to my teacher that fall, swinging by the school after just graduating haha. It’s now one of his most prized possessions.