Piano player, composer, arranger, musical director, orchestrator, conductor, and uber-fan Marc Shaiman
By Alix Cohen
At age seven, Marc Shaiman parroted his sister’s piano lesson by ear. At eight, Fiddler on the Roof was a revelation. The songwriting Sherman Brothers (through Disney) were heroes. When other boys worshiped baseball stars, posters of Bette Midler adorned his Newark walls.
By 16, the self-identified Jewish nerd had achieved his equivalency diploma and was independently living downtown. Scott Whittman discovered Shaiman seamlessly accompanying every divergent request at Greenwich Village’s Marie’s Crisis, the famous home of show tune sing-alongs. He was hired to play “cheesy piano” for the revue Cocktails at Five.
Were he ever wet behind the ears it would’ve been then. The teenager became a staple on the New York cabaret circuit, especially at The Palladium, Limelight, and Danceteria, havens for those defying gender taboos. He moved in with Whittman who became his long time romantic partner as well as collaborator. The two mounted one camp production after another. “It was the best time of my life.”
Working with one of Midler’s Harlettes led to ‘The Divine Miss M’ herself. When she told Shaiman she was hiring from the west coast, he emptied his bank account, gave up the apartment and appeared on her doorstep. She became ersatz mother, sister, and friend while he occupied a guest room at her Beverly Hills home, then on tour. (The book is dedicated to Midler)
It was Shaiman and Whittman who would eventually find “Wind Beneath My Wings” for his idol. She sent them on an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii in gratitude. He moved west and became a major film composer by the 90s- scoring at least 50 to date.
The speed and trajectory of the artist’s career might cause whiplash in others. Playing for Barbra Streisand at a benefit made him “Hollywood’s happiest homosexual.” “I never had a problem finding the confidence to quickly settle into a working rhythm with even the biggest stars.” Mary Martin, Carol Channing followed. An especially rancorous story about working with Nora Ephron (they eventually reconciled) and one in which he smokes powerful pot with Stephen Sondheim who repeatedly passes out, lead the pack.
Shaiman became good friends with Billy Crystal and Martin Short. As the de facto accompanist for Short’s apparently fabulous Christmas parties, he annually fraternizes with Hollywood royalty. He’s ignominiously played on the final nights of the Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Johnny Carson shows.
The writer’s most successful musical, 2002’s 8 Tony winning Hairspray, an adaptation of the John Waters film, is predictably allotted the most space. “I was basically Tracy Turnblad (the heroine) with a penis.”
Catch Me If You Can, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Some Like It Hot, andSmash didn’t fare as well on Broadway. “Do you quit? No! Do you grow cranky and bitter…” Shaiman is determined to promote awareness of himself as a lyricist, peppering narrative with lines from his song-writing over the years.
Dropping names as if punctuation, the author’s abject fandom and Eyore-like personality somehow keep the book from becoming a complete exercise in ego. Composing, arranging, and songwriting, he’s garnered seven Academy Award nominations, two Emmy Awards, two Grammys and one Tony careening from one job to the next, yet still anticipates thunder storms where other see silver linings. He remains gob-smacked by stars.
Marc Shaiman married retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Louis Mirabal on March 26, 2016. They wed in New Jersey immediately following Mirabal’s retirement ceremony, surrounded by celebrity friends like Bette Midler and Nathan Lane. In this,
at least, he seems a contented camper.
“Never Mind the Happy” was Shaiman’s mom’s response to his wishing her a Happy New Year. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
