Oscar telecast to feature tribute to movie musicals of the last decade

Posted by · 10:34 am · January 25th, 2013

Academy Awards telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron have already announced plans, in the 50th year of James Bond, to offer 007 a tribute at this year’s show. It dovetails nicely with the release of “Skyfall,” and I imagine the two were giddy that Adele was nominated for her theme song. Indeed, they were quick to announce that she’ll be on the show to perform the tune.

Today it’s been announced that the Oscarcast will feature a tribute to three movie musicals of the last decade. That would be Broadway hits-turned Oscar nominees “Chicago,” “Dreamgirls” and “Les Misérables.” It’s a shame they felt a need to limit it to a decade, though. Why not an expansion of considerations for the musical in the modern era? Then you could include films like “Moulin Rouge!,” “Dancer in the Dark,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” etc.

And why be so vanilla as to limit it to these three even within that span? The producers are quoted jointly in the press release as saying that “the musical as a motion picture genre has had a remarkable renaissance in the last decade,” but that isn’t limited to the big, glitzy films. And even if it were, the exclusion of “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” and “Nine” (each of them Oscar nominees) is a bit odd.

Again, it’s just a bit limiting to be a celebration of a “renaissance” without touching on the evolution of the form itself. Something like “Pitch Perfect” deserves to be included in this, you know?

Anyway. I guess it was a nice thought.




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