Mariska Hargitay’s final performance in her Broadway show featured a co-star she knows pretty well. The “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star’s husband, Peter Hermann, made a cameo during her last performance of “Every Brilliant Thing” on July 5 — even getting on bended knee to “propose” to her in one scene.
“Every Brilliant Thing” is an immersive one-person show that follows its narrator as they document everyday joys in the world. The character’s childhood best friend and eventual spouse, Sam, is acted out by an audience member. Hermann filled that role during her July 5 show.
“I showed Sam, this is where I used to walk Groucho Barx. And I thought that Sam had stopped to tie his shoe,” Hargitay said while holding Hermann’s hand in a clip shared on the show’s Instagram page. While delivering her lines, Hermann seemingly improvised alongside her.
While Hargitay looked out at the audience, her husband got on bended knee, to the audience’s laughter. “When I turned around, Sam said — ,” Hargitay acted out as the audience howled. “Will you marry me?” “And I said, ‘Yes! Let’s kiss now,’” she replied before they hugged and shared a smooch, to cheers. “A very special Sam, for Mariska’s final show,” the video’s caption read.
When the show ended, Hargitay took her bows and hugged Hermann off of the stage before she jumped back up, giving him the chance to hand her a bouquet. “I love you,” he said.
“My husband is my North Star, and my kids are my teachers,” she told People in 2018. The veteran “SVU” star made her debut in “Every Brilliant Thing” in May, taking over for Daniel Radcliffe.
“I am comfortable at ‘SVU,’” she told Hoda Kotb on the June 24 episode of her “Making Space” podcast. “Are there days that are very challenging and scenes that are challenging. Yes. Am I always trying to get better? Yes. But I have been doing it for a long time, and there is a certain amount of expertise. With this play, there wasn’t that expertise. I’m a novice, and I’m going into this new. There was nothing familiar about this.” Hargitay also said she was very nervous before opening night.
“It was so difficult, and everything about it was new, and yet it was such an incredible thing” she said. “Talk about ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway.’ Tracee Ellis Ross takes over for Hargitay starting July 7 until the Broadway show closes Aug.
Mariska Hargitay is bringing Broadway to the Bay. The “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” star is set to open the 23rd edition of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s New Works Festival with a benefit performance of “Every Brilliant Thing.” The play follows a 7-year-old who lists things worth living for after their mother attempts suicide. Aug. Tickets start at $270. Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.
Hargitay’s Aug. Palo Alto, announced Monday, July 6, comes on the heels of her Broadway run in the one-person show, written by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe. The actor departed the production Sunday, July 5, after having succeeded Daniel Radcliffe in the part in May.
The annual festival, which runs through Aug. This year’s lineup also includes “Vienna,” a new musical from “Come From Away” composers Irene Sankoff and David Hein. The actor also has family ties to TheatreWorks. Hargitay’s half-sister, Giovanna Sardelli, serves as the company’s artistic director.
Proceeds from Hargitay’s New Works Festival opening go toward the company as well as Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization founded by Hargitay that supports survivors of sexual assault and child abuse. After her performance, Hargitay will participate in a panel discussion with Sardelli and her other half-sister, producer Pietra Sardelli. Along with “Every Brilliant Thing,” the siblings will discuss Hargitay’s feature-length directorial debut, “My Mom Jayne.”
Hargitay was in San Francisco less than one year ago to promote the HBO Max documentary when it opened SFFilm’s Doc Stories in November. The film grappled with Hargitay’s connection to her mother, the 1950s movie star Jayne Mansfield, who died in a car accident when Hargitay was 3 years old. The documentary also revealed the family secret that Hargitay’s biological father was not Mansfield’s second husband, the well-known body builder and actor Mickey Hargitay, but rather the Las Vegas entertainer Nelson Sardelli.
More recently, Hargitay made headlines for her unwavering support of the New York Knicks throughout their run to the NBA championship, cheering on the team in Madison Square Garden alongside “SVU” co-star Christopher Meloni.
