Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Marc Shaiman has spent nearly five decades at the center of American entertainment, composing and arranging for Bette Midler, scoring films like When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle, and winning a Tony Award for Hairspray. Now the seven-time Oscar nominee has written a memoir, Never Mind the Happy, and he sits down with Patrick Pacheco to hold almost nothing back. Shaiman traces his unlikely origin story from underage piano player at Marie's Crisis to musical director for Midler, recounts the downtown creative explosion of Club 57 where he and longtime collaborator Scott Wittman first found their voice, and reflects on the Hollywood years that made him famous while Broadway waited. Along the way, he shares candid stories about Barbra Streisand, Meryl Streep, Martin Short, Trey Parker, and Stephen Sondheim, including one story Sondheim himself asked him to sit on for twenty years. Shaiman also speaks openly about fear as a creative force, the complicated legacy of Smash on both television and Broadway, and what it means to call yourself a pessimist while living a life that keeps exceeding your wildest expectations.
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Tape Date: 04/01/2026 First Air Date: 04/24/2026
Guest: Marc Shaiman, Author, Never Mind the Happy
On THEATER: All the Moving Parts, host Patrick Pacheco looks beyond the spotlight at the passionate and unheralded creative talents that are critical to the theatrical experience. From costumer designers to dramaturges and everything in between, Patrick looks at all the moving parts of a Broadway production.
Watch more at: https://tv.cuny.edu/homepage/show/theaterallthemovingparts/
THEATER: All the Moving Parts playlist bit.ly/2N5eNLs
THMP08015
Marc Shaiman has spent nearly five decades at the center of American entertainment, composing and arranging for Bette Midler, scoring films like When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle, and winning a Tony Award for Hairspray. Now the seven-time Oscar nominee has written a memoir, Never Mind the Happy, and he sits down with Patrick Pacheco to hold almost nothing back. Shaiman traces his unlikely origin story from underage piano player at Marie's Crisis to musical director for Midler, recounts the downtown creative explosion of Club 57 where he and longtime collaborator Scott Wittman first found their voice, and reflects on the Hollywood years that made him famous while Broadway waited. Along the way, he shares candid stories about Barbra Streisand, Meryl Streep, Martin Short, Trey Parker, and Stephen Sondheim, including one story Sondheim himself asked him to sit on for twenty years. Shaiman also speaks openly about fear as a creative force, the complicated legacy of Smash on both television and Broadway, and what it means to call yourself a pessimist while living a life that keeps exceeding your wildest expectations.
Follow CUNY TV:
Facebook: facebook.com/CUNYTV
Twitter: twitter.com/cunytv
Instagram: instagram.com/cuny.tv
youtube.com/@cunytv
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/cunytv
Find more from CUNY TV at https://tv.cuny.edu
Tape Date: 04/01/2026 First Air Date: 04/24/2026
Guest: Marc Shaiman, Author, Never Mind the Happy
On THEATER: All the Moving Parts, host Patrick Pacheco looks beyond the spotlight at the passionate and unheralded creative talents that are critical to the theatrical experience. From costumer designers to dramaturges and everything in between, Patrick looks at all the moving parts of a Broadway production.
Watch more at: https://tv.cuny.edu/homepage/show/theaterallthemovingparts/
THEATER: All the Moving Parts playlist bit.ly/2N5eNLs
THMP08015
