City Paper
Marc Shaiman on Never Mind the Happy at Politics and Prose
By Christina Smart
Feb. 13, 2026
You’d think Marc Shaiman lives with never-ending musical ideas that he can pull from on a moment’s notice. The film score composer is an Emmy, Grammy, and Tony award winner and Academy Award, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nominee who wrote the music for Misery, City Slickers, and Sleepless in Seattle, along with Broadway musicals including Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can, and Some Like It Hot. Amazingly, this is not the case. Shaiman tells City Paper that he and his songwriting partner, Scott Wittman, “sit together and usually for two days … the only song we write,” he starts singing, “‘Paralyzed with fear. Paralyzed with fear.’” His autobiography, Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories From a Sore Winner, is a hilariously candid account of his more than 50 years as a music composer and songwriter. There are a lot of beshert moments in Shaiman’s life. He writes about his time working with Bette Midler—to whom he dedicates the book—from a young age (there’s actually a chapter called ‘Manifesting Midler’), and shares how badly he wanted to be the composer for Mary Poppins Returns: “I was so obsessed with Mary Poppins as a kid and loved that soundtrack so much … I was like, ‘I don’t know how I will survive walking on this earth if I don’t get that job,’” he says. More than that, in Never Mind the Happy, Shaiman honestly shares the peaks and valleys of his personal and professional life, which makes for an encouraging tale where the end result surprises even him. “Who would’ve thought that my life and my career and my personal life could be an inspirational book,” says Shaiman. “They could put me in that self-help category.” Above all, Shaiman wants people to know, regardless of profession, that if you show up and put yourself on the line, the results can be extraordinary. “That is what I hope people get from the book,” he says. “Just the fact that these kinds of magical things can happen.” Marc Shaiman discusses Never Mind the Happy with Murray Horwitz at 5 p.m. on Feb. 14 at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. politics-prose.com. Free. —
