Who

Shaiman is a composer and lyricist known for the musical Hairspray, his scoring of dozens Hollywood films, and his work with Bette Midler.

Backstory

Shaiman grew up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, a piano prodigy who presciently festooned his childhood bedroom with Bette Midler posters. In 1976, at the age of 16, he dropped out of high school and moved to New York, where he set out to make his name in musical theater circles by putting on dozens of shows at an obscure East Village church basement/venue called Club 57. After only a few years, he'd managed to parlay his obsession with The Divine Miss M into a gig as her musical director. (It helped that his boyfriend/collaborator, Scott Wittman, lived across the hall from one of Midler's backup singers.) He's since been credited with bringing her such camp standards as "Wind Beneath My Wings"—he served as music supervisor on Beaches, from whence the song originated—and "From a Distance," which won Midler four Grammy awards.

By the early 90s, Shaiman had become a prominent scorer of movies, working on any film that somehow involved Milder, Billy Crystal, Rob Reiner, or Scott Rudin; his credits from the period include When Harry Met Sally, Misery, City Slickers, The Addams Family, Sister Act, and Sleepless in Seattle. And though he'd always brought a Broadway sensibility to his scoring work—a fact clearly on display in South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, featuring numbers like "Blame Canada" and "What Would Brian Boitano Do?"—his first big-time theater gig was 2002's enormously successful Hairspray; he and Wittman, who served as his co-lyricist, took home a Tony for their efforts on the dance epic. The couple also co-wrote the score for the 2005 musical version of The Odd Couple starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, and a score for a musical adaptation of Steven Spielberg's Catch Me if You Can is in the works.

No joke

Shaiman auditioned to play himself on Bette Midler's short-lived sitcom Bette but was rejected for the role. Years later, Shaiman finally got the chance to play Shaiman in Martin Short's Fame Becomes Me.

Personal

The goateed Shaiman has been with partner Scott Wittman for close to three decades, though the two were reported to be on the outs in December 2006. (They're apparently in therapy trying to work things out.) Shaiman and Wittman divide their time between New York and LA. Their 3,500-square-foot Chelsea loft (which has been featured in Elle Décor) went up for sale for $5.2 million in January 2007, but never sold. The apartment features a soundproof recording studio.

For the record

As if the Tonys weren't gay enough, Shaiman and Wittman shared a passionate kiss onstage at the 2003 awards ceremony, causing conservative groups to go into a tizzy. No word, though, on why homophobes were watching the Tonys in the first place.