Marc Shaiman is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, widely known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman, actor Billy Crystal, entertainer Bette Midler, and director Rob Reiner. Shaiman has received numerous accolades including two Grammy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award — as well as seven Academy Award nominations.

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Marc Shaiman ( SHAY-mən; born October 22, 1959) is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, widely known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman, actor Billy Crystal, entertainer Bette Midler, and director Rob Reiner. Shaiman has received numerous accolades including two Grammy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award — as well as seven Academy Award nominations.\n

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Early life, family and education

Shaiman was born to a Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey, on October 22, 1959, the son of Claire (née Goldfein) and William Robert Shaiman. He grew up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, where he attended Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, but he left school at age 16 to start working in New York's theaters; he later obtained a GED.\n

Career

Shaiman started his career as a theatre/cabaret musical director. He started working at Saturday Night Live as an arranger/writer. He portrayed Skip St. Thomas, the accompanying pianist for The Sweeney Sisters, a singing duo played by Nora Dunn and Jan Hooks, which earned him an Emmy nomination; he returned for an appearance on The Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special, having co-created Martin Short and Maya Rudolph's salute to musical sketch characters. He began his professional relationships with Billy Crystal and Martin Short during his tenure at the show. He also was a 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 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. His work with both Midler and Billy Crystal led to his involvement on their films. He later produced Midler's album It's the Girls, which had the highest debut of Midler's recording career on the Billboard Album charts, and co-wrote Crystal's farewell to Jay Leno which featured Carol Burnett and Oprah Winfrey among others.\n

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, 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.\"\n

Shaiman has earned seven 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 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).\n

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.\n

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 Rogers: The Musical 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+.\n

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.\n

In March 2026, Shaiman accompanied Nathan Lane on piano for his performance of the song 'Laughing Matters' from the musical When Pigs Fly, marking Lane's final appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.\n

Activism

In 2008, a controversy erupted nationwide when California Musical Theatre's then artistic director Scott Eckern resigned over the revelation of his personal donation of $1,000 to a political campaign to support California Proposition 8, an amendment which enshrined into the California Constitution that \"only marriage between a man and a woman [was] recognized in California\". After the amendment was passed, donor information became public. Shaiman and other Broadway artists who had previously worked with the director became critical and called for a boycott of the theatre by all gay artists and performers, ending in the director's resignation days later.\n

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.\n

Personal life

Shaiman is openly gay, and married Louis Mirabal, a retired lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, on March 26, 2016. He lives in both Manhattan and upstate New York.\n

For 25 years he was in a relationship with Scott Wittman, his lyricist partner.\n

Shaiman's memoir, Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories From a Sore Winner, was published in January 2026 and became an instant New York Times best seller.\n

Filmography (composer unless otherwise noted)

Films

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Television

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Theatre

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Internet

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)

Discography

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Concert/cabaret work

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Accolades

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For his work as a composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, Shaiman has received numerous accolades including two Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards and a Tony Award as well as nominations for seven Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. He earned the Hollywood Film Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music and Film in 2002.\n

References

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External links

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Marc Shaiman at IMDb
Marc Shaiman at the Internet Broadway Database
Marc Shaiman at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
The Musical Mind of Marc Shaiman
MusicalTalk Interview with Marc Shaiman

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Marc Shaiman

Broadcast History