Cats, In the Heights and Idina Menzel: Here Are Our Favorite Broadway Moments From the 2020 Oscars

The Academy Awards is the biggest night in Hollywood—but more than a few Broadway favorites were hanging around the Dolby Theatre on February 9. Lin-Manuel Miranda rolled up to the ceremony with Anthony Ramos and Utkarsh Ambudkar in tow. Tony winner Billy Porter made a cameo during the opening musical number. The Best Original Song category was a whopping pile up of Tony winners. And—just when we thought we’d seen the last of them—oh boy, there were cats. 

Here are just a few of our favorite Broadway moments from the 2020 Academy Awards. 

Idina Menzel was all of us. 

Eminem literally rose up from the depths of the Dolby Theatre to give a live rendition of his Oscar-winning song “Lose Yourself.“ His performance came after a tribute about movie music, so we think Eminem’s unadvertised appearance was meant to honor 8 Mile. Either way, Idina Menzel’s confused reaction at this blast from the past said it all, and became an instant meme. 

Tony winner James Corden jogged our "Memory."

It wasn’t the biggest surprise of the year that Cats didn’t nab any Oscar nominations—but that didn’t stop James Corden and Rebel Wilson from showing up in costume. “As cast members of the motion picture Cats," said Wilson. "Nobody more than us understands the importance of good visual effects,” finished Corden, before introducing the nominees for the Visual Effects category. They should get Oscars for being good sports. 

Broadway vets schooled the Academy on how to put on a show.

Tony winners Cynthia Erivo, Elton John and Menzel ("pronounced exactly the way it's spelled," Tony nominee Josh Gad reminded the audience) each gave an Oscar (or would it be an Emmy or a Tony?) worthy performance of the numbers from the Best Original Song category.

Erivo sang “Stand Up” from Harriet, which earned her two nominations this year.  

Menzel performed Frozen II’s “Into the Unknown”—written by EGOT winner Robert Lopez and Tony nominee Kristen Anderson-Lopez—with an international buffet of Elsas. Twitter users also pointed out that her white dress looked like the one worn by her cartoon character in the movie Enchanted.

And Elton John, the night’s winner in the Best Original Song category, brought the house down with “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from the musical biopic Rocketman. 

Utkarsh Ambudkar made an improvised appearance.

We’re not sure why original Freestyle Love Supreme member Ambudkar showed up in the middle of the Academy Awards to recap the first half of the ceremony—but nobody was complaining. “Lights up on Anthony and my twin Lin. Next year, In The Heights is guaranteed to win,” he rapped. But that wasn't the only preview of the In the Heights film that night.

Anthony Ramos reminded us that In the Heights is coming.

In The Heights isn't even out yet, but Ramos is ready to promote the film. During the ceremony, he introduced, "my main man, mi hermano," Miranda, who then took the stage to introduce the film music montage. Ramos also walked the red carpet with his fiancé, fellow Hamilton original cast member Jasmine Cephas Jones. These multiple references to In the Heights, which will be released June 26, has us saying one thing: See you next year, Oscars.