One Night in Miami's Leslie Odom Jr. & More Considered for Song Oscar; Ma Rainey Deemed Ineligible

It's awards season and plenty of stage favorites are being recognized for their work on screen. According to Variety, the Oscars music committee has voted on the songs and scores that will be eligible for nomination this season. Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. is being considered for a nomination for his performance of “Speak Now” as Sam Cooke in Amazon's One Night in Miami. The 375-member committee has qualified 105 songs and 136 scores. It will choose 15 songs and 15 scores for the shortlists prior to final voting for five nominees in each category. Oscar nominations are set to be announced on March 15.

Although it was submitted for consideration, Netflix's recent film adaptation of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom was disqualified. The film's "Baby Let Me Have It All," is credited to Branford Marsalis as the composer with playwright Wilson and Charley Patton as lyricists. With both Wilson and Patton passing (Wilson in 2005 and Patton in 1934), the song did not adhere to the Acadmey's rule that a song be "written specifically for the motion picture" and the "songwriters engaged to work directly on the motion picture."

Other stage alums of note in consideration include Tony-winning producer John Legend for "Never Break" from Giving Voice, Celeste for "Hear My Voice" from Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Sinead O’Connor's "I’ll Be Singing" from Wild Mountain Thyme, which John Patrick Shanley adapted from his Tony-nominated play Outside Mullingar.

The awards ceremony will be held on April 25.