Marc Shaiman
Marc Shaiman is a composer, born 1959.
Marc Shaiman writes music for film, television and theatre, usually alongside the lyricist and director Scott Wittman, and his long collaborations with Billy Crystal, Bette Midler and Rob Reiner run through decades of American comedy. His accolades include two Grammy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award, plus seven Academy Award nominations.
The credits gathered on this page are a joke at his expense, and a good one. They catch him almost entirely in front of the camera, and almost always at a keyboard: Piano Player in Hot Shots!, Pianist in Scenes from a Mall, Piano Accompanist in Heart and Souls, Piano Player in North, Pianist in Down with Love, Conductor in The Addams Family. The single real character part is Lucky Zindberg in Mr. Saturday Night. Even Hairspray, the film version of the stage musical, lists him here as a talent agent.
The rest is documentary and self-appearance: The Sweatbox, Get Bruce!, a Marvel making-of about Hawkeye where he turns up as a songwriter, and the streamed variety show Stars in the House. Taken together it is a portrait of a composer who likes being in the room, on camera, near a piano, and who is visibly delighted to be asked.
Movies (11)
TV (1)
Where to start with Marc Shaiman
Watch Hairspray first, but watch it as a musical rather than as a Shaiman sighting, since his appearance is a bit part and the film is worth more than the game of spotting him. Then Mr. Saturday Night, which hands him the closest thing to an actual role and puts him beside Billy Crystal, one of his oldest collaborators.
The Addams Family and Hot Shots! are the fun archaeological finds, two comedies from the same year where he shows up as a conductor and a piano player. Down with Love is the most stylish thing on the list. For the man himself, Get Bruce! is a documentary steeped in the comedy world he works in, and it is the closest this page comes to an interview.