la la land songs not performed by stars at Oscars

It's not unprecedented. In 2005 Beyonce performed several of the nominated songs, including "Learn to Be Lonely." In 2003 Queen Latifah replaced Renee Zellweger for the performance of "I Move On" with Catherine Zeta-Jones.

but in this case the actors are in a musical, playing roles that require them to sing. pop singers usually perform theme songs from the films. i don't see any reason in this case that Emma Stone or Ryan Gosling couldn't perform the songs they performed in the film. I just thought it was odd while watching them right there in the audience.

Everyone I know personally and on line has been talking about how Gosling and Stone can't really sing or dance. If I were they, I wouldn't have gone near that stage (except to accept an award). I'm sorry Legend was disappointing.

(I haven't seen the picture or the West Coast feed, so nothing here reflects my own opinion of anyone's musicality.)

John Legend has a fine voice but I didn't think the composite performance worked, even in the "City of Stars" part.

Meanwhile, Auli'i Cravahlo nailed "How Far I'll Go" and made a strong case that it should have been Best Song.

I do like the La La Land sourndtrack, and both nominated songs, but the musical snob in me thought it was a bad look that the 17-year-old could belt out Lin-Manuel Miranda's song (and getting knocked in the head with a flag) on live televsion while Gosling and Stone played it safe. I can't really blame them, though. They had more to lose.

Updated On: 2/27/17 at 04:55 AM

But they aren't "singers", I don't blame them if it was their choice.

^^^ Yikes! Who made that call and why? Reinking wasn't in the film, nor did she sing the song on the soundtrack as I recall. Phil Collins would have been the obvious choice; maybe he was a last-minute cancellation.

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As some of you know, I have a friend who voiced a well-known Disney character. Three numbers from the film were nominated, so she and Jerry Orbach sang their respective numbers live. My friend is a seasoned, Broadway actor and singer and she said she'd never been so nervous as she was singing at the Oscars. If you listen to the tape, you can hear that Orbach was nervous, too, and he starred off-Broadway before I got to elementary school. Something about that TV audience of a BILLION people.

I never thought I'd be saying this in my life: but I actually feel sorry for Warren Beatty. Not his fault, but it must be embarrassing all the same.

Auli'l Cravahlo = future Eliza

Considering the singing and dancing chosen for the movie was likely the best result of numerous takes, and those results were far from professional quality, it doesn't surprise me that they or their producers did not choose to have them perform live.