Oscar Meet Tony: Academy Award Nominees and Winners’ Broadway Connections

Oscar and Tony AwardsBroadway was a big winner at the 2014 Academy Awards, with Bobby Lopez (Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon) winning for co-composing the song Let It Go, making him only the 12th person to join the competitive #EGOT club (an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) and Catherine Martin (Tony winner for La Boheme) won two Oscars for “The Great Gatsby.”

But did you know 2014 Oscar nominated director Martin Scorsese directed a musical on Broadway? It was called The Act, it featured music by Kander and Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago) and it starred Liza Minnelli, who played a fading film star!
The connection between Hollywood and Broadway is, granted, not as deep as it used to be. But take a look at the list of Oscar winners and nominees below.

And some of the connections are hidden. For example Frozen, which won for best animated feature AND best song, is voiced by many Broadway veterans: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana, Ciaran Hinds.

Best Picture
Best Actor in a Leading Role
1 Broadway vet
Best Actress in a Leading Role
2 Broadway vets
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1 Broadway vet
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
3 Broadway vets
Best Animated Feature
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
1 Broadway vet
Best Directing
1 Broadway vet
Best Documentary Feature
Best Documentary Short
Best Film Editing
Best Foreign Language Film
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
2 Broadway vets
  • Happy (Despicable Me 2)
  • Winner: Let It Go (Frozen) cowriter Bobby Lopez 2X Broadway vet (Avenue Q, Book of Mormon)
  • The Moon Song (Her)
  • Ordinary Love (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) written by U2 (Does Spider-man: Turn Off The Dark count, since it wasn’t by the whole band?)
Best Production Design
1 Broadway vet
  • American Hustle (Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler)
  • Gravity (Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woollard)
  • Winner: The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn) — Catherine Martin 1X Broadway vet
  • Her (K.K. Barrett, Gene Serdena)
  • 12 Years a Slave (Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker)
Best Animated Short Film
Best Live Action Short Film
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects
Best Adapted Screenplay
2 Broadway vets
Best Original Screenplay
1 Broadway vet

Missed John Travolta mispronouncing Idina Menzel’s name?

He should know better; they’re both Broadway veterans, he for Grease and Over Here, she for Rent, Aida, Wicked, and the forthcoming If/Then.

Author: New York Theater

Jonathan Mandell is a 3rd generation NYC journalist, who sees shows, reads plays, writes reviews and sometimes talks with people.

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