BroadwayWorld's Live 89th Academy Awards Live Blog

Tonight, BroadwayWorld's Senior TV and Film Critic, Matt Tamanini will be live blogging the 89th Academy Awards, so join him as ceremony gets underway at 8:30 p.m. EST. With movie-musical LA LA LAND and stage-to-screen adaptation FENCES nominated for Best Picture and playwrights Kenneth Lonergan, Tarell Alvin McCraney, and Robert Schenkkan with works nominated in the category as well, the ceremony is shaping up to be quite theatrical, not to mention the slew of Broadway alums nominated in acting music categories.

Before the ceremony gets started, if you are looking to finish filling out your Oscars pool, let Matt and the BroadwayWorld panel of experts and stars of stage and screen Donna Lynne Champlin, David Fynn, Patti Murin, and Caesar Samayoa help you out with their predictions! Be sure to visit BWW for live coverage of the 2017 Academy Awards, with a theatrical slant HERE!

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12:15: I mean......... what do you say?..........

11:57: I LOVE EMMA STONE!

11:52: Dang it. I was really hoping that Denzel would win Best Actor. He was robbed of a directing nomination, but his work both on and behind the screen in FENCES was remarkable.

11:45: We are in the home-stretch now, and I think, despite the ridiculous length of the ceremony, I think over all, it's been a pretty strong evening. What say you?

11:34: And now Barry Jenkins and acclaimed playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney have one for Adapted Screenplay. Shoutout to the theatre writers winning at the Academy Awards.

11:29: Kenneth Lonergan winning Best Original Screenplay might have been the first surprise of the night. Nice to see a playwright honored at the Oscars.

11:23: Sara Bareilles lady is a good performer. We should get her on Broadway... oh wait...

11:18: And Pasek and Paul have taken the first step towards their inevitable EGOT. In fact, I am going to go out on a limb and say that by next year's Oscars, they will have already also picked up a Tony and Grammy (DEAR EVAN HANSEN) and Emmy (THE FLASH/SUPERGIRL).

11:05: John Legend is currently represented on Broadway as a producer on JITNEY, and I would love to get him on a Broadway stage soon too. #GoBucks!

11:01: I'm so here for Oscars Mean Tweets!

10:48: At the Emmys and Oscars every year, my SLIP podcast co-host and I are usually neck-and-neck in our predictions, and then there is one award that turns the tide against me. This year, it might have been live action short. I saw the live action and animated shorts, as far as I know, Jenn did not. I should have had an advantage there. We both got it wrong... I'm down two... it ain't looking good.

10:39: We are over two hours into the Oscars, and LA LA LAND has only won one Oscar. In our predictions article, I was counting on a LA LA LAND sweep to carry it to a Best Picture win. However, with it not doing as well as I anticipated, is there a chance that MOONLIGHT, or even FENCES, sneaks up and wins the night's biggest prize?

10:34: Always good to see Michael J. Fox, even if he has to stand next to Seth Rogan being insane... hilarious, but insane.

10:32: From our predictions article: "I have joked throughout the year about Disney's "live action" adaptation of THE JUNGLE BOOK was not actually live action, because other than Neel Sethi, who played Mowgli, there was nothing "live" about it. That being said, if you told me that director Jon Favreau taught wild animals to talk for this film, I probably would have believed you, so I'm going with THE JUNGLE BOOK."

10:25: I don't think that anyone in America can not understand that there are deep divides in our country right now, but I didn't expect the tour bus bit to be the thing that made it explode in my Twitter timeline:

10:20: Gotta admit, I didn't think this bit was going to work at first, but Kimmel really turned it around and made it work. Nicely done.

10:13: I know that we've still got over an hour and a ton of awards left, but when you take out the technical categories (which nobody knows anything about anyway), this has been a pretty surprise-free ceremony so far. Right?

10:04: Wow, the failing New York Times dropped a serious, not-so-subtle sub-tweet on the White House. Do you think anyone was able to pick up on the message?

10:02: I have nothing funny, or smart, or snarky to say about Sting. So instead, I will just recommend that you go follow me on Twitter (@BWWMatt), where I am also dropping super hot takes!

9:48: Ain't nobody gonna cut off Viola Davis' acceptance speech. They've all seen HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER.

9:41pm: Since we all know that Viola is going to win, I'm just waiting to see what grand and glorious magic she comes up with for her acceptance speech.

9:30pm: Make that 0-for-4 in the technical categories for both of us!

9:28pm: Clearly, my "Some Like it Pop" co-host, Jennifer McHugh, and I have no idea what does and doesn't make outstanding technical work in a movie. 0-for-3!

9:26pm: I would be so mad if I got a parachute of Junior Mints instead of Red Vines.

9:17pm: I'm on record as saying that I didn't think that "How Far I'll Go" was even the best song in MOANA, but Auli'i Cravalho just delivered an incredible performance at the Oscars. Good for her. How long until we see her on Broadway?

9:14pm: OJ winning Best Documentary was a foregone conclusion. It got serious Best Picture consideration, and it completely deserved it.

9:08pm: Well done, Oscars. Doing a superhero lead in for Janelle, Taraji, and Octavia, and the real Katherine Johnson. Very well done!

8:59pm: Excuse me, that is Academy Award-winner SUICIDE SQUAD.

8:57pm: McKinnon and Bateman aren't exactly Laurel and Hardy, but it worked... I guess.

8:50pm: It doesn't always happen this way, but the first of the award for the night absolutely went to the right nominee, Mahershala Ali was incredible in MOONLIGHT as well as HIDDEN FIGURES, and LUKE CAGE, although that is less important in this context.

8:48pm: Nice of MCC to give Lucas Hedges the night off from his Off-Broadway show YEN so he could go to the Oscars tonight.

8:46pm: Alicia Vikander seems really nervous about presenting this award, doesn't she? Or is that just her Swiss accent?

8:43pm: It doesn't look like Meryl was warned ahead of time that that set of jokes ahead of time. I loved her reaction... unless she was just asking.

8:40pm: Is it just me, or does Amazon founder Jeff Bezos look exactly like Tony-winner Michael Cerveris?

8:38pm: I really hope that Jimmy Kimmel never stops feuding with Matt Damon. Killing it so far. Is that a controversial opinion?

8:37pm: And the first joke at a star's expense is directed at Mel Gibson... as it should be.

8:32pm: Jokes aside, how long do we have to wait until we get Timberlake in a Broadway musical? Serious, dreamcast him in something at hit me up on Twitter @BWWMatt.

8:31pm: If you also had JT lip syncing the Opening Number, you are just one more bet short of a trifecta.

8:30pm: Whoever had Justin Timberlake opening the Oscars, collect your winnings at the window.

8:25pm: As we get started for the awards proper, first, let me thank the wonderful Patti Murin for live-blogging the red carpet coverage for BroadwayWorld for the second year in a row. She is smart, funny, and not afraid to speak her mind!

If you want to check out all of her fantastic coverage, CLICK HERE.

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Ok, you've seen our picks, now who've you got? Let me know on Twitter @BWWMatt. You can listen to me on BroadwayRadio or on BroadwayWorld's pop culture podcast Some Like it Pop.