EGOT Watch: Mariah Carey!

What could the not-legally-sanctioned Queen of Christmas possibly want for, aside from, you know, canonically “you?” Mariah Carey’s holiday hit has landed on music’s “Nice” list (Billboard Chart) every single year for nearly three decades; she has a two-hour Christmas concert special dropping the week leading up to Christmas; she absolutely nailed holding that umbrella (??) and standing absolutely still while closing out the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. And yet she wants more.

Sit tight and get very, very comfortable, because I think we are witnessing the beginning of Carey’s long journey to the EGOT. Carey has attached herself as a co-producer to the Broadway production of Some Like It Hot, two weeks before the show opens. “I first became familiar with this story through the timeless film starring Marilyn Monroe,” Carey told The Hollywood Reporter. “She’s been an important touchstone throughout my life.”

OK, yes, she’s a fan of Monroe. But what I suspect is her real reason for belatedly attaching herself to this project is implied here: “Carey is the latest big name to join a Broadway musical as a co-producer, following Jennifer Hudson’s EGOT win for her producing credit on A Strange Loop,” the THR piece reads. The seeds….they are….being sown.

As of right now, Carey has five Grammys, including Best New Artist in 1991. That’s it. But an Oscar and Emmy are within reach, should Carey put in a bit more effort than her Macy’s parade performance. Last year, Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special was nominated for Emmy for Outstanding Contemporary Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program (Non-Prosthetic.) Unfortunately, that Emmy went to the Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Elon Musk. But surely, some more Christmas magic can come through with this upcoming holiday special and secure her the cardinal letter of the EGOT with a win in Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded). Or, if she keeps up her “singing” act like she did in this year’s Macy’s parade, she can absolutely snag a win in the Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special category, right?

For an Oscar, Carey has actually been in two movies that have garnered the film world’s attention — The Butler and Precious (my sincerest apologies to Glitter)— the latter of which she had a decently sized role. So there’s always the acting route to securing the O, but I feel more confident guessing she’d score that win with an original song or, again, co-producing. She and and The Butler director Lee Daniels, her longtime friend, are working together to adapt her autobiography, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, so perhaps there’s hope in the Adapted Screenplay category.

“I think it’s bigger than a film,” Daniels told Andy Cohen last year. “I think that if there’s so much to her thing, I think it’s an epic limited series.” Not so fast, buddy. It better stay a film if Carey’s EGOT destiny is to be fulfilled.

And, of course, all of this also hinges on Some Like It Hot winning the Tony. It’s like a Rube-Goldberg machine of wins to nail the landing, but in the off chance that Carey one day does achieve Hollywood’s most coveted quartet of trophies, know you heard it here first. As Carey sang alongside Whitney Houston for the Academy Award winning Best Original Song for The Prince of Egypt (sadly, Carey didn’t get the statue – songwriter Stephen Schwartz did): “There can be miracles (miracles) when you believe.”