Academy tries to make up for Best Original Song gaffe with a Bette Midler performance

In other words, Midler has been tapped to perform “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from Mary Poppins Returns on the telecast next Sunday, as Variety reports. She’ll do so accompanied by composer-lyricist Marc Shaiman, who co-wrote the song with lyricist Scott Wittman. Like seemingly everything surrounding this clusterfuck of a ceremony, the Best Original Song category at this year’s Oscars was briefly mired in controversy, after AMPAS announced that only two of the five nominated Best Original Songs would be performed live during the broadcast. The Academy eventually relented.

The Oscars have yet to elaborate on what exactly it was planning to air during a three-hour telecast with no host, reduced live performances, and key awards given out during commercial breaks. But, based on what happened the last time the Oscars went without a host (see below), we’d rather watch Midler belt out a show tune than whatever the show’s writers had planned in her place.

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