Bette Midler returns to the Oscars stage with stirring performance Mary Poppins ...

Bette Midler, 73, returns to the Oscars with stirring performance of The Place Where Lost Things Go from Mary Poppins Returns

By Sameer Suri For Dailymail.com

Published: 04:27 GMT, 25 February 2019 | Updated: 04:27 GMT, 25 February 2019

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Bette Midler delivered her second-ever Academy Awards performance at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The Divine Miss M, who celebrated her 73rd birthday two months ago, sang The Place Where Lost Things Go from Mary Poppins Returns.

In the actual movie, the number was sung by Emily Blunt, who played the title role in the sequel to the 1964 live action Disney feature.

Showmanship: Bette Midler delivered her second-ever Academy Awards performance at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday

Showmanship: Bette Midler delivered her second-ever Academy Awards performance at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday

Written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who scored the Broadway musical version of John Waters' film Hairspray, the number was up for best original song.

Shallow from A Star Is Born won in a category that included All The Stars from Black Panther, When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings from The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs and I'll Fight from the documentary RBG.

Bette previously performed at the Academy Awards in 2014, singing her song Wind Beneath My Wings from her 1988 film Beaches during the in memoriam reel.

Although Julie Andrews won her Oscar for her title turn as a magical nanny in the original Mary Poppins film, Emily did not snag a nomination this year.

Fabulous: The Divine Miss M, who celebrated her 73rd birthday two months ago, sang The Place Where Lost Things Go from Mary Poppins Returns

Fabulous: The Divine Miss M, who celebrated her 73rd birthday two months ago, sang The Place Where Lost Things Go from Mary Poppins Returns

In the new film, Hamilton icon Lin-Manuel Miranda stepped into the role of Mary's best pal Bert, whom Dick Van Dyke played in the 1964 film.

Robert Stevenson was nominated for best director and the film was up for best picture, losing to the adaptation of the stage musical My Fair Lady - which Julie had starred in on Broadway, only to be replaced by Audrey Hepburn for the movie.

Walt Disney himself asked Julie to star in Mary Poppins, and she initially felt she had to decline the role because she was pregnant, but he replied: 'That’s OK, we can wait,' Julie told the Sunday Post last year.

Stepping in: In the actual movie, the number was sung by Emily Blunt, who played the title role in the sequel to the 1964 live action Disney feature

Stepping in: In the actual movie, the number was sung by Emily Blunt, who played the title role in the sequel to the 1964 live action Disney feature

Mary Poppins Returns is directed by Rob Marshall, who helmed the Oscar-winning 2002 adaptation of the Broadway musical Chicago.

This new movie also stars Meryl Streep, Angela Lansbury, Colin Firth, Emily Mortimer, Ben Whishaw and Julie Walters, but not Bette.

Best actress this year was a contest between The Favourite's Olivia Colman, The Wife's Glenn Close, Roma's Yalitza Aparicio, A Star Is Born's Lady Gaga and Can You Ever Forgive Me?'s Melissa McCarthy.

Close, but no cigar: Written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who scored the Broadway musical version of John Waters' film Hairspray, the number was up for best original song

Close, but no cigar: Written by Marc Shaiman

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