If you like musicals, you must have loved yesterday’s announcement of the 97th annual Oscar nominations. For the first time in 60 years, and for only the second time in Oscar history, two musicals each received 10 or more nominations in the same year. Emilia Pérez led the field with 13 nods. Wicked amassed 10.
The only other time that two musicals have each received double-digit Oscar nods in the same year was at the 1965 ceremony, where Mary Poppins had 13 nods, while My Fair Lady had 12. That was the ceremony where Julie Andrews won best actress for Poppins after being passed over for the film version of My Fair Lady (in which she had starred on Broadway). That “snub” by Jack L. Warner, the producer of My Fair Lady, and Andrews’ Oscar-night revenge, made for one of the buzziest entertainment stories of the era.
A total of 11 musicals have received 10 or more Oscar nominations. All were nominated for best picture. Six won in that category. We’ll find out if Emilia Pérez or Wicked joins them in the winners circle them when the Oscars are presented at Dolby Theater at Ovation Hollywood on March 2.
Impressively, Andrews starred in two of these 11 musicals – Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote the songs for two of them – Cabaret and Chicago. And Robert Wise directed or co-directed two of them – West Side Story and The Sound of Music.
Here are all the musicals that have received 10 or more Oscar nominations.
