Marc Shaiman will tell the story of his life and career in a new memoir, Variety reports.
Regalo Press will publish the composer and lyricist’s Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories From a Sore Winner next year. It calls the book “a wickedly funny, no-holds-barred memoir.”
Shaiman began his career as a writer and arranger for Saturday Night Live, and went on to compose music for films including When Harry Met Sally…, Misery, Sister Act, Sleepless in Seattle, and The Wedding Planner. He won two Grammy Awards for best musical theater album for Hairspray and Some Like It Hot, and has been nominated for seven Academy Awards for his work in films including South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and Mary Poppins Returns.
In his book, Regalo says, Shaiman “looks back on five decades of Broadway triumphs, Hollywood hijinks, and unforgettable collaborations. Along the way, he charts the personal highs and heartbreaks that have shaped him—spending his teenage years in community theater, starting a decades-long collaboration with Bette Midler in the ’70s, surviving the AIDS crisis of the ’80s, his award-winning film music career in the Hollywood of the ’90s, right up to the peaks (and valleys) of creating Broadway musicals from 2000 on.”
Shaiman announced news of his memoir on Instagram, writing, “This memoir is part showbiz chronicle, part intimate reflection and, since my mother always said ‘Never mind the happy!’, it is all about successfully spreading joy as I try to find it myself.”
Never Mind the Happy is slated for publication on January 27, 2026.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
