Say what you will about the 84th Annual Academy Awards, they sure do a great job of publicizing low-budget movies and even a few Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. While there is no stage version of The Artist or Hugo, there were Broadway shows for other nominated films.

Warhorse may have gone home empty-handed on Oscar night, but the play version of the film picked up five Tony Awards in 2011, including Best Play, Best Director, Best Scenic Design, Best Lighting and Best Sound. The production even won a special award for puppetry performance. W.E. was only nominated once, but its writer and director Madonna is no stranger to Oscar parties or live performances for that matter. Long before her movie picked up a Best Costume Design nomination, she was turning heads for her work in the Oscar-winning Evita (based on the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber) as well as the Warren Beatty remake of Dick Tracy. Madonna is still touring the U.S. and was last seen belting out numbers of the Super Bowl halftime show.

Perhaps it was fitting (or planned that way) that Collin Firth presented Meryl Streep’s Best Actress category and watched as Streep won her third Best Actress statue. The two stars previously worked together on the film Mamma Mia, which was based on a stage play written by Catherine Johnson and influenced by the songs of ABBA. Lastly, we had the political drama The Ides of March starring George Clooney, which was originally based on the 2008 play Farragut North.

Of course, the best performance of Oscar night may well have been that of Cirque Du Soleil, who gave a dazzling tribute to the movies with death-defying leaps and bizarre feats of strength. Yes, Cirque Du Soleil has been making waves for decades, and every once in a while Hollywood does a double take on this very creative and energetic entity. Cirque Du Soleil is currently touring across the U.S. and also performing live in Las Vegas. Some of their hottest shows today include Viva Elvis, Zumanity, O, Mystere, Ka and The Beatles: Love. If you loved them at the Oscar show, come give them a standing ovation in person!

This may have been a weak year for Broadway-to-movie adaptations, but at least the theatre stole the show!

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 3rd, 2012 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.