No host allowed for more performances
The 2020 Academy Awards marked the second year in a row without a host, allowing for extra time in the broadcast for musical performances.
Two years ago, Kevin Hart stepped down from his hosting duties following a series of old offensive tweets of his that became widely scrutinized in the media. The Academy made the decision not to replace him in 2019 and continued the trend in 2020.
Last year, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Maya Rudolph opened the ceremony, telling a medley of jokes they would have told if they were the actual hosts. Chris Rock and Steve Martin did a mini-monologue of their own this year.
“Well, we had a great time not hosting tonight,” Martin said at the end of their few minutes onstage which was filled with calling out the lack of diversity in the nominees and jokes at the expense of those in attendance.
However, they did not open the show. That honor was given to Janelle Monáe, who began with a cover of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” as a nod to Tom Hanks, who was nominated for his portrayal of Mr. Rogers in “A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood.” She then went on to sing an original song about coming up, backed up by dancers dressed up in costumes from notable snubbed films of the year including “Us” and “Midsommar.”
The performance also featured Billy Porter and Monáe even went into the audience to have stars like Brie Larson and Cynthia Erivo sing into her mic as she made a statement about the lack of diversity in the Academy’s nominations, a constant theme of the night.
“It’s time to come alive because the Oscars is so white,” Monáe sang.
Even Kristen Wiig and Rudolph had a musical moment, performing a medley of comedy-related songs while presenting the award for Best Costume Design.
As always, the five nominees for Best Original Song each had their own performance. Idina Menzel was back on the Oscars stage to perform “Into The Unknown.” However, this year she was joined by Norwegian singer AURORA, as well as nine other actresses who have lent their voice to the character of Elsa in countries around the world from Thailand to Denmark.
It was a beautiful moment of solidarity between the 11 women on stage, 10 of them singing the exact same song in languages ranging from Polish to Japanese.
Chrissy Metz was backed by a choir to perform her song “I’m Standing With You” from the film “Breakthrough” as was double-nominee, Cynthia Erivo, as she performed “Stand Up” from “Harriet.”
Randy Newman, the musical voice behind the beloved “Toy Story” franchise, performed “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from the fourth installment in the series, which won for Best Animated Feature.
The final performance in the category was by Elton John, who would take the award home with his musical partner, Bernie Taupin, for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again.”
However, there were some other musical surprises within the night. 17 years ago, Eminem failed to show up to the 2003 ceremony, where he became the first artist to win Best Original Song with a rap song. After a montage of iconic musical moments in film, Eminem came to the stage to finally perform his Oscar-winning song, “Lose Yourself.”
Halfway through the show, actor Uktarsh Ambudkar, provided a rap recap, ending it with “keep an open mind, I’m sure we’ll find, there’s plenty of light here for all of us to shine.”
In a historic moment, Eimear Noone became the first female conductor to conduct at the Oscars, conducting a medley of the Best Original Score nominees, which was won by Hildur Guðnadóttir for “Joker,” just the fourth woman to win the award.
While it is unclear if the Oscars will ever return to having a traditional host at their ceremony, it’s clear that they have many ways to fill in the time that would be spent by a host, and the best way they manage it is through song.