Neil Patrick Harris

UPDATE: Neil Patrick Harris tweets, “I will not be performing a duet with Martin Short to open the Oscars. Misinformation, I’m afraid. Should I maybe pull a Kanye, mid-show?”

EXCLUSIVE: Stop reading if you want to be surprised, but I know how the Oscarcast will get underway Sunday night. (That is, if Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman don’t change their minds because of this spoiler.) The first 2 men on stage won’t be hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. Instead, the show will open with a silhouette of a pair of guys only … wait for it ... they’re Neil Patrick Harris and Martin Short. Anything can change, but that unlikely duo has been rehearsing an original opening song and dance routine that is one of 2 big production numbers choreographed by executive producer Adam Shankman. (The other involves extreme street dancers who’ve performed on So You Think You Can Dance where Shankman is a judge and who’ll hoof to samplings from the Best Original Score nominees.) Though Harris is predominantly a TV star, he’s an awards show regular. Short also is a TV regular these days, but he has a long relationship with the broadcast’s musical director Marc Shaiman, who put together the opening number. In fact, Shaiman/Short collaborations go back to Saturday Night Live, and include The Martin Short Show and the one-man stage show Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me. I heard the producers had approached Robin Williams, but he declined.