Marc Shaiman

Marc Shaiman (pronounced SHAY-mən) is an American composer, lyricist, and book writer born on October 22, 1959, in Newark, New Jersey, to Claire (née Goldfein) and William Robert Shaiman. He grew up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, attending Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School before leaving at age 16 to work in New York theaters, later earning a GED. His career has spanned Broadway, film, and television, and his accolades include a Tony Award, two Grammy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and seven Academy Award nominations.

Shaiman began his professional life as a theater and cabaret musical director before joining Saturday Night Live as an arranger and writer. At SNL, he portrayed Skip St. Thomas, the pianist accompanying The Sweeney Sisters, a comedy duo played by Nora Dunn and Jan Hooks, a role that earned him an Emmy nomination. His time at the show also established his working relationships with Billy Crystal and Martin Short. He later returned for The Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special, co-creating a salute to musical sketch characters with Short and Maya Rudolph. Separately, Shaiman served as vocal arranger and eventually musical director for Bette Midler, co-producing recordings including "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and "From a Distance," and helping shape her performance on the penultimate episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He later produced Midler's album It's the Girls, which achieved the highest Billboard Album chart debut of her recording career.

His film work includes scores and songs for 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, Hairspray, Flipped, and Mary Poppins Returns, among others. He also composed for television projects including HBO's From the Earth to the Moon and 61*. In 2002, the Hollywood Film Festival honored him with its Outstanding Achievement in Music-In-Film award, and in 2007 ASCAP presented him with the Henry Mancini Award for outstanding contributions to film and television music. He is also the first recipient of the Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for a Comedy Feature Film.

On Broadway, Shaiman's credits include Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, SMASH, and Some Like It Hot. His score for Hairspray earned him the Tony Award for Best Original Score in 2003, along with a Grammy Award and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics that same year. He received a Tony nomination for his orchestrations for Catch Me If You Can. Some Like It Hot, for which Shaiman and his longtime collaborator Scott Wittman wrote the songs alongside a book by Amber Ruffin and Matthew Lopez, premiered on Broadway in 2022 and brought Shaiman a second Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics in 2023. Shaiman and Wittman also wrote songs for the Broadway musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which ran at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre following a four-year run at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London's West End.

Much of Shaiman's work has been created in partnership with Wittman, with whom he shared a 25-year personal relationship. Together they wrote original songs for NBC's musical drama Smash, which ran from 2012 to 2013, and served as executive producers on the series. Their song "Let Me Be Your Star" earned nominations for both an Emmy Award and a Grammy Award, and as executive producers they received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical. The pair also co-wrote material for Neil Patrick Harris when he hosted both the 63rd Tony Awards and the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009, and received an Emmy nomination for co-writing and musical directing the 82nd Academy Awards in 2010. In 2014, the New York Pops Orchestra honored Shaiman and Wittman at Carnegie Hall. In 2021, the duo wrote "Save the City" for Rogers: The Musical, the in-universe Marvel Cinematic Universe Broadway production featured in the first episode of the Disney+ series Hawkeye.

Shaiman co-produced and co-wrote material for Mariah Carey's 2010 Christmas album Merry Christmas II You, and co-wrote Billy Crystal's farewell to Jay Leno, which featured Carol Burnett and Oprah Winfrey. He also co-wrote the final Late Night broadcast for Conan O'Brien, which featured Nathan Lane, and Nathan Lane's farewell segment for David Letterman. He wrote and performed the song "Yes" for the film Finding Kraftland. In 2008, Shaiman wrote and produced Prop 8 – The Musical, a satirical short distributed via FunnyOrDie.com to protest the passage of California Proposition 8; the video received 1.2 million views on its first day and won a 2009 Webby Award for Best Comedy: Short or Individual Episode. That same year, Shaiman was among the Broadway artists who called for a boycott of California Musical Theatre following the revelation that its artistic director had donated to the Proposition 8 campaign, a situation that ended in the director's resignation.

Shaiman is openly gay and married Louis Mirabal, a retired lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, on March 26, 2016. He divides his time between Manhattan and upstate New York. His memoir, Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories From a Sore Winner, is scheduled for publication in January 2026.