The Sad Reason Lin-Manuel Miranda Won't Be At The Oscars

Most playwrights and composers would be over the moon just to have one success in their lifetimes. Lin-Manuel Miranda now has an armful of them, and he shows no sign of slowing down. In addition to his multi-award-winning Broadway smashes "Hamilton" and "In the Heights," Miranda's credits include composing songs for films such as "Moana" and "Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens." He also has some acting appearances in "Mary Poppins Returns," "His Dark Materials," and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," among many others. 

2021 was an especially busy year for the prolific creator: In addition to producing and performing in the film version of "In the Heights," he also directed "Tick, Tick... Boom!" and wrote songs for the animated features "Vivo" (in which he also acted and produced) and Disney's "Encanto." The last film was not only a huge box-office success, its soundtrack also stayed at the top of the Billboard charts for weeks and had kids singing "We Don't Talk About Bruno" until their parents reached for the earplugs. 

All these projects resulted in a number of Academy Awards nominations, including two for "Tick, Tick... Boom!" and three for "Encanto": Best Animated Feature Film, Best Score (for Germaine Franco), and Best Original Song for Miranda's "Dos Oruguitas," his first Spanish-language song.

But in a sad twist of fate, Miranda will be missing out on this exciting evening — and for an all-too-familiar reason. 

Second-time Oscar nominee Lin-Manuel Miranda made the trip from New York to LA with his wife, Vanessa Nadal, and their two sons for the March 27 awards ceremony.  Unfortunately, their formalwear will have to stay packed in the luggage this year. The day before the big night, Miranda tweeted: "Made it to Hollywood...This weekend, my wife tested [positive] for COVID. She's doing fine. Kids & I have tested [negative], but out of caution, I won't be going to the Oscars tomorrow night. Cheering for my TickTickBoom & Encanto families [with] my own family, alongside all of you, ALL of you."

The disappointing news was met with more than 118,000 likes as of this writing (if one can truly call them that), along with many wishes for health and luck. Among the well-wishers was Mark Hamill, who wrote, "Wishing you & your family all the best & cheering for TickTickBoom too! PS- I've been to the Oscars twice & they're MUCH more fun from home." The "Star Wars" legend signed his name punfully, "Mar [camel emoji]." Marlee Matlin, whose film "CODA" is up for Best Picture and Supporting Actor awards, tweeted, "Sending hugs!"

If Miranda wins for "Dos Oruguitas," he'll become only the 17th person to claim EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) status. He recently told The New York Times, "On one level, it feels totally silly, because it's a term that got popularized by '30 Rock' ... But on another level, the thing that always feels special about this is that artists vote on it. My fellow moviemakers, my fellow songwriters, the music branch."