EXCLUSIVE: 'Hamilton' Stars Talk Worst Audience Experience and 'Law & Order' Rite of Passage

By
Joan Marcus

[Editor's note: The article was originally published February 2016. Daveed Diggs is now a 2016 Tony Award nominee.]

An undeniable Broadway hit, Hamilton has become the hottest (and hardest) ticket to get, with
fans offering firstborns and marriage proposals in hopes of nabbing a seat.

Needless to say, the Richard Rodgers Theatre is packed
during every performance. “It’s so dense,” Daveed Diggs, who portrays Marquis
de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the biographical production about
Alexander Hamilton, tells ETonline. “People are really leaning in to catch
everything.”

MORE: 'Hamilton' Cast Opens Up to ET About Diversity, Beyonce and Crashing Phone Lines

Despite the fandom surrounding the show, Diggs says the “audience
is pretty quiet” as they try to catch all the lyrics in the hip hop-influenced
songs. “In other shows, everyone seems to have a coughing fit at the same time,”
he says, “but we don’t get a lot of that.”

However, the show hasn’t gone on without its disturbances. “We
did get somebody on their phone during the whole show,” Anthony Ramos, who
stars as John Laurens and Hamilton’s eldest son, Philip, recalls, feeling the
tension among the company on stage. “People were upset. Though, I thought it
was pretty funny.”

MORE: Broadway's Most Horrifying Theatergoers as Described by Rumer Willis, Jonathan Groff & More

In fact, it sounds like the most distracting thing is when
the audience mouths along to the lyrics. “I have to not look at the audience
lip-syncing in the front row,” Ramos admits, with Diggs adding that it’s
gotten worse since the cast album was released. 

NBC

While both actors are busy with their Broadway debut, it
hasn’t stopped them from making the all-important guest appearance on the Law & Order franchise -- a rite of
passage
for New York actors. “I was like, ‘Yes, I’ve made it,’” Ramos says of
his upcoming episode on Special Victims
Uni
t
, “Forty-One Witnesses,” in which he plays an accused rapist. “My agent
told me, ‘Every great actor got started on Law
& Order
.’”

MORE: Is Taylor Swift Headed to 'Law & Order: SVU'?! Mariska Hargitay Dishes to ET

Idris Elba thanked Law
& Order
when he accepted his SAG Award,” he continued, “and I hope
that’s me thanking Law & Order
someday.”

For Diggs, it’s his second appearance as Counselor
Henderson, a character the actor is hoping to reprise again on the series. “It’s
great to get these Masters classes from the cast,” he says of his time on set. “Now,
I share a common ground with these people who I’ve seen so much on TV.”

NBC

Back in September, when ETonline caught up with Mariska
Hargitay on the set,
she gushed over having HamiltonHaHadactors on the show. “It was like SVU: The Musical,” Hargitay joked about filming
with Diggs and his co-star Leslie Odom, Jr. just a day prior. The two appeared
on the October episode, “Community Policing,” marking the first Hamilton TV reunion.

Hamilton changed
my life,” Hargitay said of the show.

Diggs and Ramos' guest-starring appearance premieres on Wednesday,
Feb. 3, at 9 p.m. on NBC.