Marc Shaiman

 ( 1959 Births ) 

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, , , Hairspray, Flipped, Mary Poppins Returns and HBO's From the Earth to the Moon and 61*. On television, he worked on the final performances for Johnny Carson's Tonight Show (with Bette Midler), Conan O'Brien's Late Night (with Nathan Lane), both of Jay Leno's final Tonight Show broadcasts, and Nathan Lane's farewell to David Letterman called "Dead Inside."

Shaiman has earned seven Academy Award nominations, a Tony Award and a Grammy Award for his work on the Musical theater Hairspray, and an Emmy Award for co-writing Billy Crystal's Academy Award performances. He has also been Grammy-nominated for his arrangements for Harry Connick Jr.'s recordings When Harry Met Sally... and We Are in Love as well as Hairspray and Smash and Emmy-nominated for his work on Saturday Night Live and Smash. 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. He wrote and sang the song "Yes" for his agent's film Finding Kraftland, and co-wrote (with partner Scott Wittman) songs for Neil Patrick Harris when Harris 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 2010 Christmas album Merry Christmas II You. He and Wittman wrote original songs for the musical-based television show for NBC, Smash, which ran from 2012 to 2013, and served as executive producers. For their song "Let Me Be Your Star," Shaiman and co-lyricist Wittman were nominated for both an Emmy Award and a Grammy Award, and as executive producers they were nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical.

Shaiman and Wittman were honored on April 28, 2014, by The New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. The following year, Jennifer Hudson sang the Smash song "I Can't Let Go" at the 87th Academy Awards during the in memoriam tribute, featuring revised lyrics. The duo's Broadway musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ran on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, after finishing a four-year run on London's West End at The Royal Drury Lane Theater. Shaiman was Tony-nominated for his orchestrations for their previous Broadway musical Catch Me If You Can. In 2021, they wrote a song titled "Save the City" for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in-universe Broadway production titled featured in the first episode of Hawkeye, "Never Meet Your Heroes". It was released as a single on November 24, the day the episode became available on Disney+.

In February 2021, it was announced that Shaiman and Wittman were writing songs for a new musical adaptation of Some Like It Hot, which premiered on Broadway in 2022 with a book by Amber Ruffin and Matthew Lopez.

To protest the passage of California Proposition 8 in November 2008, Shaiman wrote a satiric mini-musical Prop 8 – The Musical. The three-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, and Rashida Jones. Shaiman plays the piano and appears briefly in the video. It received 1.2 million internet hits in its first day.

Shaiman's memoir, Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories From a Sore Winner, is set to be published in January 2026.

• Peter Allen: Up in One (1979)
• Bette! Divine Madness (1980)
• André De Shields' 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)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2017)
• Some Like It Hot (2022)
• Smash (2025)

West End

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013)

Off-Broadway

• Dementos - The Production Company
• Livin' Dolls - Manhattan Theatre Club
• Legends - Ahmanson Theatre
• The Sound of Muzak - Club 82
• Trilogy of Terror - Club 57
• Non Pasquale - Delacorte Theatre

Disney Parks

• - Hyperion Theatre

• Prop 8 - The Musical (2008) (composer, lyricist, pianist) - 2009 "Webby" winner for Best Comedy: Short or Individual Episode
• Soundtrack of Our Lives: A Celebration for the Film and TV Music Community (2020) ("The End Titles" song)

• Merry Christmas II You

Bette Midler

• Thighs and Whispers
• Mud Will Be Flung Tonight
• Some People's Lives
• Experience the Divine
• Bette
• Bathhouse Betty
• It's the Girls!

Harry Connick Jr.

• We Are in Love

Peter Allen

• Making Every Moment Count

Original Broadway cast recordings

• Hairspray
• Catch Me If You Can
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical (West End musical)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical (Broadway musical)
• Some Like It Hot (Broadway musical)

Soundtracks

• The Addams Family
• Addams Family Values
• Beaches
• When Harry Met Sally...
• Heart and Souls
• For the Boys
• City Slickers
• A Few Good Men
• Sister Act
• Sleepless in Seattle
• Hocus Pocus
• North
• The American President
• The Out-of-Towners
• Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics
• The Story of Us
• Alex & Emma
• Rumor Has It...
• Hairspray
• The Bucket List
• Smash Season One
• Smash Season Two
• Bombshell
• Hairspray Live!
• The Star
• Mary Poppins Returns
• Hocus Pocus 2

• 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
• Ute Lemper
• Jenifer Lewis
• 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 Weber
• Raquel Welch
• Robin Williams

• The Musical Mind of Marc Shaiman
• MusicalTalk Interview with Marc Shaiman