MARC SHAIMAN

Marc Shaiman (Music & Lyrics) very much enjoyed composing the music and co-writing the lyrics for Hairspray with Scott Wittman. For their score, the pair won the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Awards. Their next Broadway score was for Martin Short— Fame Becomes Me, for which they won absolutely nothing. As a composer and arranger, Marc’s film credits date back to the silents and include When Harry Met Sally, Beaches, Misery, City Slickers, The Addams Family, A Few Good Men, Sister Act, Sleepless in Seattle, The First Wives Club, Patch Adams, The American President, George of the Jungle, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, and The Bucket List. He has been nominated five times for an Oscar and lost every time. As her music director and co-producer, Marc brought his long time partner Bette Midler the Grammy winning songs “The Wind Beneath My Wings” and “From A Distance”, but it is their collaboration on her Emmy Award-winning performance for Johnny Carson’s penultimate Tonight Show that will always remain a dream. He auditioned but was not chosen to play himself on her sitcom. Besides the Carson moment, having recently co-written and appeared with both Nathan Lane and Billy Crystal for their respective musical bon voyages to Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno on both of their penultimate shows, Marc recently became a figure of trivia, a one man walking Jeopardy question and most certainly the kiss of death to any talk show host who sees him approaching with a musical tribute under his arm. Marc was Emmy nominated for writing on Saturday Night Live (the Sweeney Sisters) and an actual Emmy Award winner for co-writing Billy Crystal’s medleys for The Academy Awards. His arrangements for Harry Connick Jr. were Grammy-nominated, as was the Hairspray soundtrack, and he has worked with many other artists, including Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Eric Clapton, Kristen Chenoweth, Jennifer Holiday, Jenifer Lewis, Patti LuPone, John Mayer, Barbra Streisand, RobThomas, Raquel Welch and, well, basically everyone in show biz. Marc’s Internet sensation, the “Webbie”-winning PROP 8-The Musical, had been viewed over 4 million times (@funnieordie.com) on, ironically, January 3rd, 2009, which was his and Scott Wittman’s 30th Anniversary as a couple.