Marc Shaiman

Marc Shaiman
Shaiman (left) with Martin Short, 2006
Born	October 22, 1959 (1959-10-22) (age 52) Newark, New Jersey
Residence	Los Angeles & New York City
Nationality	American
Known for	Multiple awards as composer and lyricist
Partner	Scott Wittman

Marc Shaiman (born October 22, 1959) is an American composer, lyricist, arranger, and performer for films, television, and theatre. He is perhaps best known for writing the music and co-writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the cult John Waters film Hairspray, for which Shaiman won Tony and Grammy awards, and was later nominated for several other awards for the film adaptation.

Personal life

Shaiman was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Claire (née Goldfein) and William Robert Shaiman.^[1] He went to Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School. He lives in both Los Angeles and New York City. Shaiman and Scott Wittman have been partners in life and collaborators in theater since 1979.^[2]

Career

Shaiman started his career as a theatre/cabaret musical director. He then became vocal arranger for Bette Midler, eventually becoming her musical director and co-producer of many of her recordings, including The Wind Beneath My Wings and From a Distance. He helped create the material for her performance on the penultimate Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. His work with both Bette Midler and Billy Crystal led to his involvement on their films.

His film credits include Broadcast News, Beaches, When Harry Met Sally..., City Slickers, The Addams Family, Sister Act, Sleepless in Seattle, A Few Good Men, The American President, The First Wives Club, George of the Jungle, In & Out, Patch Adams, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Team America: World Police , Flipped , and HBO's From the Earth to the Moon, and 61*. He frequently works on films by Billy Crystal and Rob Reiner. He has also appeared in many of these films.

Shaiman has earned five Academy Award nominations, a Tony Award and a Grammy Award for his work on the musical Hairspray, and an Emmy Award for co-writing Billy Crystal's Academy Award performances. He has also been Grammy nominated twice for his arrangements for Harry Connick Jr.'s recordings When Harry Met Sally... and We Are in Love and Emmy nominated for his work on Saturday Night Live. In 2002, he was honored with the "Outstanding Achievement in Music-In-Film" award at The Hollywood Film Festival, and in 2007 he was honored with ASCAP's Henry Mancini Award in recognition of his outstanding achievements and contributions to the music of film and television. He is the first recipient of the Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for a Comedy Feature Film.

Fans of Saturday Night Live may recognize Shaiman as Skip St. Thomas, the accompanying pianist for The Sweeney Sisters, a singing duo played by Nora Dunn and Jan Hooks. He began his professional relationships with Billy Crystal and Martin Short during his tenure at SNL. He wrote and sang a song for his agent's film Finding Kraftland; the song was called Yes.

To protest the passage of California Proposition 8 in November 2008, Shaiman wrote a satiric mini-musical called "Prop 8 — The Musical". The 3-minute video was distributed on the internet at FunnyOrDie.com beginning on December 3, 2008. It was written and produced in just a few days. The cast includes Jack Black (who plays Jesus), Neil Patrick Harris, John C. Reilly, Allison Janney, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, Margaret Cho, Rashida Jones and other celebrities. Shaiman plays the piano and appears briefly on the video. It received 1.2 million internet hits in its first day.^[3][4]

Most recently, he has co-written (with partner Wittman) songs for Neil Patrick Harris when he hosted the 63rd Tony Awards (2009) and the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards (2009) and was Emmy nominated for musical directing and co-writing the 82nd Academy Awards (2010).

Shaiman co-produced and co-wrote cuts on Mariah Carey's new CD Merry Christmas II You.

He is slated to be writing original songs for the new musical based television show for NBC, Smash, expected to premiere in 2012.

Filmography

• Broadcast News (1987)
• Big Business (1988)
• Beaches (1988)
• When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
• Misery (1990)
• Scenes from a Mall (1991)
• City Slickers (1991)
• The Addams Family (1991)
• Hot Shots! (1991)
• For the Boys (1991)
• Sister Act (1992)
• Mr. Saturday Night (1992)
• A Few Good Men (1992)
• Sleepless in Seattle † (1993)
• Heart and Souls (1993)
• Life with Mikey (1993)
• Addams Family Values (1993)
• Sister Act 2 (1993)
• City Slickers II (1994)
• North (1994)
• Speechless (1994)
• That's Entertainment! III (1994)
• Stuart Saves His Family (1995)
• Forget Paris (1995)
• The American President † (1995)
• Bogus (1996)
• Mother (1996/II)
• The First Wives Club † (1996)
• Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)
• George of the Jungle (1997)
• In & Out (1997)
• My Giant (1998)
• Simon Birch (1998)
• Patch Adams †(1998)
• The Out-of-Towners (1999)
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut † (1999)
• The Story of Us (1999) with Eric Clapton
• The Kid (2000)
• Get Over It (2001)
• One Night at McCool's (2001)
• The Wedding Planner (2001)
• Bowling for Columbine (2002)
• Down with Love (2003)
• Alex & Emma (2003)
• Marci X (2003)
• The Cat in the Hat (2003)
• Team America: World Police (2004; songs only, score was rejected and replaced by Harry Gregson-Williams)
• Rumor Has It... (2005)
• Hairspray (2007)
• The Bucket List (2007)
• Flipped (2010)

† = Oscar Nominee

Television

• Bette Midler - Mondo Beyondo (1982)
• Saturday Night Live (1984–1985)
• Saturday Night Live (1986–1987)
• Comic Relief (1986)
• Billy Crystal: Don't Get Me Started (1986)
• Billy Crystal: Don't Get Me Started - The Lost Minutes (1988)
• I, Martin Short, Goes Hollywood (1989)
• What's Alan Watching? (1989)
• Billy Crystal: Midnight Train To Moscow (1990)
• The 62nd Academy Awards (1990)
• The 63rd Academy Awards (1991)
• The 64th Academy Awards (1992)
• The 65th Academy Awards (1993)
• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1993)
• The 69th Academy Awards (1997)
• Bette Midler in Concert: Diva Las Vegas (1997)
• The 70th Academy Awards (1998)
• Late Night with Conan O’Brien (1998)
• The Rosie O'Donnell Show (1997)
• From the Earth to the Moon part eleven (1998)
• Saturday Night Live 25th Anniversary (1999)
• The 72nd Academy Awards (2000)
• South Park - Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics (1999)
• Get Bruce (1999)
• Jackie's Back (1999)
• Bette (2000)
• How Harry Met Sally... (2000)
• 61* (2001)
• South Park episode - "Cripple Fight" (2001)
• Greg the Bunny (2002)
• Charlie Lawrence (2003)
• The Score with Phil Ramone (2003)
• The 57th Annual Tony Awards (2003)
• Biography - Bette Midler (2004)
• The 76th Academy Awards (2004)
• The 77th Academy Awards (2005)
• The 79th Academy Awards (2007)
• The 63rd Tony Awards (2009)
• The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards (2009)
• The 82nd Academy Awards (2010)
• Smash (2012)

Trivia note: He has co-written and performed with Bette Midler, Nathan Lane and Billy Crystal on the penultimate shows of Johnny Carson, Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno.

Theatre

Broadway Peter Allen:Up in One (1979) Bette! Divine Madness (1980) André DeShields's Haarlem Nocturne (1984) Leader of the Pack (1985) An Evening with Harry Connick Jr. and Orchestra (1990) Patti LuPone on Broadway (1995) Hairspray (2002) The Odd Couple (2005) Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me (2006) Catch Me If You Can (2009)

Off-Broadway Dementos - The Production Company Livin' Dolls - Manhattan Theatre Club Legends - Ahmanson Theatre Trilogy of Terror - Club 57 Non Pasquale - Delacorte Theatre

Internet

• Prop 8 - The Musical (2008) (Composer, Lyricist, Pianist) 2009 "Webby" winner-Best Comedy:Short or Individual Episode

Discography

Mariah Carey Merry Christmas II You Bette Midler Thighs and Whispers Mud Will Be Flung Tonight Some People's Lives Experience the Divine Bathhouse Betty Harry Connick, Jr. We Are in Love Peter Allen Making Every Moment Count

Soundtracks The Addams Family The Addams Family Values Beaches When Harry Met Sally... For the Boys A Few Good Men Sister Act Sleepless in Seattle North The American President The Out-of-Towners South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics The Story of Us Alex & Emma Rumor Has It… Hairspray The Bucket List Original Broadway cast recordings Hairspray Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me Catch Me If You Can (2011)

Concert/cabaret work

• Peter Allen
• Jack Black & Will Ferrell
• Kristin Chenoweth
• Rosemary Clooney
• Harry Connick Jr.
• Billy Crystal
• Christine Ebersole
• Ellen Foley
• Whoopi Goldberg
• Annie Golden
• The Harlettes
• The High-Heeled Women
• Lauryn Hill
• Jennifer Holliday
• Allison Janney
• Laura Kenyon
• Nathan Lane
• Jenifer Lewis
• Ute Lemper
• Darlene Love
• Patti LuPone
• Lypsinka
• Ann Magnuson
• Andrea Martin
• Lonette McKee
• Bette Midler
• Catherine O'Hara
• Sarah Jessica Parker
• Zora Rasmussen
• Ann Reinking
• Debbie Shapiro Gravitte
• Martin Short
• Barbra Streisand
• Donald Trump
• Tracey Ullman
• Luther Vandross
• Bruce Vilanch
• Steven Webber
• Robin Williams
• Raquel Welch

References

1. ^ Marc Shaiman Biography (1959-)
2. ^ Rapp, Linda (2004), "Shaiman, Marc, and Scott Wittman", glbtq.com, http://www.glbtq.com/arts/shaiman_m.html 
3. ^ Itzkoff, Dave. "Marc Shaiman on 'Prop 8 — The Musical'", The New York Times, December 4, 2008
4. ^ "Star-studded Web video protests Prop 8 – Spoof musical's blockbuster cast includes Jack Black as Jesus", Associated Press, MSN.com, December 4, 2008

External links

• MusicalTalk Interview with Marc Shaiman.
• The Musical Mind of Marc Shaiman
• Marc Shaiman at the Internet Movie Database
• Internet Broadway Database entry
• The Marc Shaiman non official site

Persondata
Name	Shaiman, Marc
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 22, 1959
Place of birth	Newark, New Jersey
Date of death
Place of death