Congratulations to Mariska Hargitay on Hamilton’s Emmy Nominations

It’s a joyous day in Hollywood and in whichever part of New York City Mariska Hargitay lives in. The Emmy nominations were announced this morning, and alongside surefire noms for shows like I May Destroy You and The Handmaid’s Tale were 12 nominations for Hamilton, the musical that has enraptured audiences across the country in various iterations for roughly 17 years.

The Disney+ live stage recording of the show scored nominations for actors Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., and Renée Elise Goldsberry, director/Michelle Williams’s baby daddy Thomas Kail and one for Outstanding Variety Program (Pre-Recorded) in addition to a slew of technical nominations. I’m sure the whole Hamilton team is excited by this news, but I’m even more sure that no one is more excited than Emmy winner Mariska Hargitay — Hamilton’s Biggest Fan.

Guess how many times Hargitay has seen Hamilton. Go on, guess. Five would be my answer if I weren’t cursed with knowledge that Mariska Hargitay has seen the Broadway show a full 22 times.

Hargitay has been quite vocal about being a Hamilton fan over the years. In 2017, when the show had been running for about two years, she told Seth Meyers she had seen it 15 times. In fact, she said that every time anyone from the show guest starred on SVU, she would go see Hamilton again in order to see them in it.

More recently, in 2021, Hargitay revealed to Kelly Clarkson that her number had increased to the one we know today, which is, of course, 22. In the same interview, Hargitay told Clarkson, through tears, that the singer’s rendition of “It’s Quiet Uptown” for The Hamilton Mixtape “slayed” her, and that she now feels “a deep connection” with Clarkson “on an artistic level” because of it.

Observant readers will note that between 2017 and 2021 Hargitay’s Hamilton outings have dwindled, going from 15 times in two years to seven times in four years. Everything gold must fade, as they say, and yet I’m sure Hargitay is patiently waiting for the day her husband (the hot guy from Younger, who is 6’5”) can return to the Richard Rogers Theater and quietly mouth the line “Immigrants… we get the job done,” while clutching an $18 sippy cup of white wine.

So congrats to Mariska and the team on the Emmy nominations! You all deserve them.