Hathaway and Franco Duet of 'Suddenly Seymour' Cut from Oscars

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards ceremony for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be broadcast live on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. The show will be televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Despite early reports that hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway would perform "Suddenly Seymour" from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, producer Bruce Cohen admits that the number didn't make the cut. However, he does tell Entertainment Weekly that the opening number will welcome "a very exciting and special guest star or two" and that there will be musical elements. Additionally, Cohen says that "[W]e have these highly-complicated scenic transitions that we're using to tell some of the great moments in film history and Oscar history. There are about six or seven times in the show when we're going to metaphorically leave the stage of the Kodak today, and the stage is gonna transition through lighting, music, sound, and set back to an old movie, a classic performance, an event, a time period. Because of all the elements involved in making those transitions, we're not gonna actually see one of them on its feet until this Friday or Saturday. I think everyone working on the show thinks it's a brilliant idea. We're hoping it's going to be fantastic. But we won't really know until Friday or Saturday what we've got."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world's preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards - in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners - the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; provides financial support to a wide range of other movie-related organizations and endeavors; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.

Follow The Academy at www.oscars.org, and read the full EW article here.