Scoring 'Hamilton' tickets the old-fashioned way

 We're in front of CIBC Theatre, Chicago

Tickets we got through the box office

Our seats in the theatre ...

This shows distance from the stage.

We spent a few days in Chicago recently and found a new, yet old, way to get tickets to one of the hottest musicals in the country.

It required a pretty long walk, a few minutes in line, and we came away with two seats only about 20 rows from the stage.

Like many readers, I saw offers of "Hamilton" tickets on social media; I swear every time I called up Facebook in August, there would be a pitch for the show.

However, we are wary of online methods to buy tickets since a friend was burned in the process of purchasing tickets to the Paul McCartney concert in Moline, held in June. Craig has a cautionary tale that we certainly respected.

Hence it seemed smart to just go to the box office at the CIBC Theatre, which has had the show for several months. The theatre was just over a mile from our hotel, so we hiked over there on Sunday morning, not knowing what to expect.

About a dozen folks were in the lobby doing what we wanted to do. It was a fairly short wait in line, and then we chose seats in Row Q. Steve thought it was clear in the back of the theatre, but I believed  it was not far from the stage.

Turned out, it was perfect. We paid $250 for two tickets and we had a wonderful view. In addition, the two women next to me were from Australia, and I loved talking to them about the show. They, in turn, explained they were on a tour of the U.S. and "Hamilton" taught them more about our form of democracy.

The historic musical is terrific; one of the best we've seen. For those who are interested in going to hot shows like this one, maybe try the box office first.