Tazewell again nominated for Academy Award

Special to Randolph Hub

You may recall that a local costume designer who won a Tony for “Hamilton” and an Emmy (for “The Wiz Live”) received his first Academy Award nomination three years ago for Stephen Spielberg’s remaking of “West Side Story.”

Well, 60-year-old Paul Tazewell has done it again! 

Often visiting his Asheboro family, Barbara Tazewell and Emma Washington, when not extremely busy with his New York-based career, the talented NC School of the Arts graduate was nominated on Jan. 23 for Best Costume Design for “Wicked,” the highest-grossing film adaptation of a stage musical in cinematic history, bringing in over $700 million at last count.

Tazewell will have some stiff competition this year, as costume designs for the well-regarded “A Complete Unknown,” “Conclave,” “Nosferatu” and “Gladiator II” have also been nominated.  

Overall, “Emilia Pérez” leads with 13 Oscar nominations, followed by 10 each for “Wicked” and “The Brutalist.” Other noteworthy nominations for “Wicked” include Best Picture, Best Actress (Cynthia Erivo), Best Supporting Actress (Ariana Grande) and Original Score. Surprisingly, it did not receive Oscar nods for Director (Jon M. Chu), Best Supporting Actor (Jonathan Bailey) or Adapted Screenplay, but the record-breaking Universal production did win a Golden Globe for Outstanding Cinematic Achievement recently. 

“Wicked:  Part I” is still showing at Asheboro Mall’s Cinemark theater, and its highly-anticipated sequel is set to be released worldwide at Thanksgiving.

In the meantime, mark your calendar for the ABC-TV broadcast of the 97th Academy Awards to be hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien on Sunday, March 2.

Previously, Tazewell has been nominated for 2 Emmy and 9 Tony awards, including for such popular Broadway shows as "The Color Purple," "Ain't Too Proud," "MJ The Musical" and last year's "Suffs." 

Though his mother lives in Asheboro now, Paul grew up as a teenager in Akron, Ohio, Paul designed all of the costumes for his high school production of "The Wiz" ... in which he actually played the Wizard of Oz!