“Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has called the news of a mostly performance-less Oscars ceremony “disappointing.”
Variety exclusively learned that only two of this year’s five-Oscar nominated songs may be performed live at the Academy Awards show on Feb. 24. Sources said Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “All the Stars” from “Black Panther” and Lady Gaga’s “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born” were chosen for performances on the telecast.
“The 1st time I stayed up to watch the Oscars, it was because I LOVED The Little Mermaid & they were going to sing songs from the movie I loved on The Oscars,” the “Mary Poppins Returns” star tweeted. “If true, and Poppins’ song won’t be performed, truly disappointing. Hostless AND music-less? To quote Kendrick: Damn.”
The three other nominated tracks are “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Miranda’s own “Mary Poppins Returns,” “I’ll Fight” from “RBG,” and “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.”
The Academy declined specific comment except to say no decision on song performances has been made yet, although a source said the decision to reduce the performances is to follow this year’s mandate of limiting the show to three hours.
The ceremony is also currently set to go host-less, after comedian Kevin Hart stepped down following controversy over his past homophobic tweets.