On Feb. 26, the 89th Academy Awards will air, and you may want to consider tuning in for a chance to see history in the making. Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the award-winning Broadway musical “Hamilton” could be the winner of another award.
“He did an amazing job with ‘Hamilton,’ and I’m so happy for him,” junior Delayne Richie said.
Miranda previously won the Pulitzer Prize for his work on “Hamilton,” a Tony and a Grammy for both “In The Heights” and “Hamilton” and Emmy for the music for the 67th Tony Awards, and he is currently nominated for Best Original Song for “How Far I’ll Go” from the movie “Moana.” Another nominee for this award includes “City of Stars” from “La La Land.”
Miranda has the potential to be a PEGOT winner: someone who has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony, as well as the Pulitzer Prize. Miranda, at 37, would be the youngest person in history to win the award in the shortest amount of time, winning all five awards in only nine years.
“I don’t think [Miranda] will win,” theatre teacher Rick Bodick said. “I got a feeling that one of the songs from ‘La La Land’ will win, not his song. It’d be very interesting if he did. If not, he’ll win the PEGOT award one of these days.”
At the Academy Awards this year, Jimmy Kimmel will be hosting for the first time.
Last year, there was controversy because there were no African-American actors nominated for an Oscar. People were so angry, they created a hashtag on Twitter called #OscarsSoWhite.
“I feel like the movie industry should do a good job making it diverse; it was a little saddening to see that [it wasn’t],” Richie said.
This year there are more African-American Oscar nominees than last year, including Ruth Negga from “Loving” for Best Actress and Barry Jenkins for Best Director for “Moonlight.” Jenkins could also be the first LGBT winner for Best Picture.
“I feel like ‘Moonlight’ should definitely win,” Richie said. “With this election, I feel like everyone is kind of in the dumps. I think that ‘Moonlight’ possibly winning and all the black actors sets a good image for our country right now.”
“Moonlight” is up against movies like “La La Land” and “Manchester by the Sea” for Best Picture.
Not all the drama happens in the movies. Tune in later this month to see the winners.