Multiple-award winning composer Marc Shaiman got top billing Tuesday evening as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored him with the Henry Mancini Award during the 22nd Annual ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.
The invite-only ceremony honored Shaiman for his musical creativity in film and television, including the upcoming theatrical adaptation of the Broadway musical, "
Hairspray." A handful of industry friends joined ASCAP President and Chairman
Marilyn Bergman on stage to present Shaiman with the award, including
Billy Crystal and director
Rob Reiner.
Reiner, who worked with Shaiman on films such as "Misery" and "When Harry Met Sally," joked of his first meeting the composer over 20 years ago when Crystal introduced the pair. "(Crystal) said to me,
Marc Shaiman, you should work with him. And I said to him, he's a funny little fat Jew, what does he do?" joked Reiner. "And he said, no no, he's good. And that's what we both have in common. We're both funny little fat Jews, though I am a little taller and he's a little gayer."
Shaiman has received five Oscar nods, a Tony, Grammy and Emmy award for "The 64th Annual Academy Awards" in 1992, which he collaborated on with Crystal. "The best times I have had with Marc are just hanging out and doing the Oscar medleys," said Crystal. "It made Marc the king of special material. Special material means on Oscar night they don't send a limo, they send a short yellow bus."
Many familiar faces showed up, via video message, to shower Shaiman with praise over his award, including
Matthew Broderick,
Nathan Lane,
Martin Short and
Robin Williams. A few of the cast members from the upcoming film "
Hairspray" also joined in on the fun, with
John Travolta,
Michelle Pfeiffer,
Queen Latifah and
Allison Janney delivering video tribute messages.
After accepting the Mancini award, Shaiman plopped down behind a piano on stage and played a few notes of the classic "Moon River," providing a score for his own speech. He made special mention of his partner in life and work of 28 years,
Scott Wittman, as he remembered first discussing their work on
Hairspray. "The day that we got the gig to write
Hairspray, (Wittman) came into the music room and said Tracy Turnblad needs to wake up, and as if she was Curly in Oklahoma, sing out 'Good Morning, Baltimore.'"
Later, Tony Award winner Marissa Jaret Winokar made an appearance on stage and performed "Good Morning, Baltimore" with Shaiman on piano. "This is sort of a lifetime achievement award, but I want to show you I ain't dead yet, there's still something coming up," Shaiman proclaimed before he closed out the evening with a performance of a new song, "Fifty Checks," from his new musical,
Catch Me If You Can, based on the
Steven Spielberg film.
The Henry Mancini Award was established in 1996, and past recipients have included Randy Newman,
Quincy Jones and Hans Zimmer. Other awards handed out at the ceremony recognized the ASCAP composers whose works have earned the highest number of performance credits on television in the category of themes in 2006, which were Joel Beckerman, Michael Karp, Russ Landau, Branford Marsalis and David Vanacore. Those honored in the category of dramatic underscore were Sean Callery, Russ Landau, David Nichtern, Mark Snow and David Vanacore.
Aside from Shaiman's festivities, actor Sacha Baron Cohen got the black-tie audience laughing up a storm as he introduced his brother Erran Baron Cohen, who was honored for his composing the music for "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." "The first time I met the composer of 'Borat,' I was four hours old, and I was so excited, I literally shat myself," drolled Cohen, with his brash alter-ego nowhere in sight.
The 22nd Annual Awards event is part of ASCAP's "I Create Music Week" — an entire week of activities being held in Los Angeles to celebrate the voice of the music creator. For more information, visit
www.ascap.com.
Photo of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman by Linda Lenzi.
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