2026年2月27日 / 美国东部时间下午2:57 / CBS新闻
雷加洛出版社
我们可能会从您在本文中购买的任何商品中获得联盟佣金。
在他的回忆录《[别管那些快乐：一个痛并快乐着的演艺界故事]》（雷加洛出版社出版）中，托尼奖和艾美奖得主作曲家马克·沙曼讲述了他在演艺界半个世纪的经历。沙曼以百老汇音乐剧《发胶》以及《南方公园：更大、更长、更未删减》的配乐而闻名。
以下是他的序言节选，他在其中讲述了自己准备与年轻时的偶像贝特·米德勒（这份崇拜后来发展为合作）一同登上奥斯卡舞台的经历，并不要错过3月1日在《CBS周日早晨》中特雷西·史密斯对马克·沙曼的采访！
[《别管那些快乐》马克·沙曼著]
想听吗？[Audible] 现在提供30天免费试用。
序言
2019年2月24日，我与贝特·米德勒在洛杉矶杜比剧院的舞台上，距离第91届奥斯卡颁奖典礼演出仅剩几分钟。幕布另一侧，坐着3400位好莱坞最有权势和成功的人士——还有全球约3000万观众通过电视观看直播。礼堂中的一位重要人物是斯科特·维特曼，我近五十年的歌词搭档，我们共同创作了奥斯卡提名歌曲《遗失物品的去处》——也就是我和贝特即将表演的歌曲。迪士尼刚刚发行《欢乐满人间2》仅两个月，这部电影为我赢得了第六和第七项奥斯卡提名，尽管我平静地坐在抛光黑色三角钢琴前，但我清楚地知道这一路走来有多艰难。
几周前，奥斯卡提名公布的那个早晨，我和丈夫卢·米拉瓦尔坐在曼哈顿阁楼的沙发上，我们的金毛犬乔普斯无疑在纳闷，为什么我们8:30本该给它做早餐，却死死盯着电视。类似的场景也发生在斯科特和他的伴侣布赖恩位于南边六个街区的公寓里。《欢乐满人间2》虽然票房不错，但远未达到制片厂期望的十亿美元票房。斯科特和我为迪士尼经典作品的续集创作的歌曲感到自豪，但它们不可避免地被拿来与原版难忘的音乐比较——所以我们不确定提名公布的那天早上是否该抱有希望。
幸运的是，奥斯卡眷顾了我们，我们的歌曲《遗失物品的去处》获得提名，我还获得了最佳配乐提名。我们都感到兴奋和欣慰，也许没有人比卢更甚，因为如果结果相反，他就得把我从地板上扶起来了。
不过我常说，如果演艺界周二把你捧上神坛，周四就可能把你摔得粉身碎骨。果然，在两天的狂喜之后，当年奥斯卡颁奖典礼制片人宣布，五项提名歌曲中，只有两首——一首是《一个明星的诞生》中Lady Gaga和布莱德利·库珀的二重唱，另一首是《黑豹》中Kendrick Lamar和SZA的歌曲——将被表演。显然，他们希望用明星效应提高收视率，通过删减三首歌曲来缩短时长。但说剩下的歌曲不配演出，这不仅向公众传递了信息，更向尚未投票的奥斯卡选民传递了“它们地位不平等”的信息。这真是一记闷棍。
然而，奥斯卡制片人没料到我是个“咬住骨头不松口”的人。首先，我组织了三位未被选中歌曲的创作者（包括我亲爱的、爱骂脏话的朋友黛安·沃伦）联名请愿，但无济于事。然后，我找到了当时担任迪士尼工作室主席的艾伦·霍恩，我认识他是因为他曾是罗伯·莱纳的制片搭档。由于迪士尼拥有奥斯卡转播的ABC电视台，我以为他能插手——但他粗暴地说：“船已启航，我无能为力。” 好吧，也许他无能为力，但我不会放弃。
我曾因与伟大演员维克多·加博的友谊而与布莱德利·库珀见过几次面。当他和维克多拍摄《双面女间谍》时，曾去过我和斯科特（我近三十年的伴侣）当时的家，而且每次在其他演艺活动中遇到他，他都非常友好。我最近也和漫威电影宇宙的“至高智慧”凯文·费奇成了朋友。事实上，就在几周前的一次奥斯卡活动上（我们都在那里为提名拉票），有人拍了拍我的肩膀说：“凯文·费奇想和你聊聊。”
“凯文·费奇想和我聊聊？”我惊讶地问。我很震惊，无法相信我的漫威迷丈夫没在我身边。原来，尽管你会觉得他已经很忙了，但他竟然也是个狂热的电影配乐爱好者。在他夸赞我作品的几分钟后，我问能否和他自拍一张发给卢。
布莱德利和凯文不仅是好莱坞最友善的人，在那一刻，与他们结交变得异常有用。毕竟，布莱德利制作了《一个明星的诞生》，凯文制作了《黑豹》——这两部电影的奥斯卡提名歌曲都被学院选中表演。于是，我联系了他们，解释了情况，他们都认为这很不公平，并表示愿意尽力帮忙。
我不清楚后续发生了什么，但这两位先生显然有自己的“超能力”，因为大约一天后，就宣布所有五首提名歌曲都将被表演。谢谢布莱德利，谢谢凯文——如果你们需要一个不太有权势的人帮忙，随时告诉我。
就这样，我最终登上了当年的奥斯卡舞台。表演前一刻，我透过幕布听到管弦乐队演奏了我们电影主题曲的片段，随后观众欢呼起来，基根-迈克尔·基从杜比剧院的天花板上缓缓降下，手持一把玛丽·波平斯风格的黑色雨伞。
“今晚最佳原创歌曲的下一位提名者是马克·沙曼和斯科特·维特曼为《欢乐满人间2》创作的歌曲。”他说，“除了通过一系列魔法冒险提升班克斯孩子们的精神，玛丽·波平斯还以这首温柔的摇篮曲给予安慰与同情，强调了即使亲人离去，爱也依然存在。请欣赏马克·沙曼钢琴伴奏的《遗失物品的去处》，有请‘神圣的米德勒小姐’！”
（我和贝特都在想——当然没来得及讨论——“什么，他居然叫不出她的名字？”）
然后幕布升起，贝特走进聚光灯下，二十八盏红色雨伞灯从伦敦雾蒙蒙的天际线背景中落下，我开始为我世界上最喜欢的表演者伴奏——这首由我和我最珍视的合作伙伴创作的歌曲，在奥斯卡颁奖典礼上表演。
我是怎么做到的？正如一位老派钢琴家常说的，这一切的关键在于——
[《别管那些快乐：一个痛并快乐着的演艺界故事》马克·沙曼著]，雷加洛出版社出版，精装版、电子书和有声书格式。
[官方网站：marcshaiman.com]
分类：[书籍]
Book excerpt: “Never Mind the Happy” by Marc Shaiman
February 27, 2026 / 2:57 PM EST / CBS News
Regalo Press
We may receive an affiliate commission from anything you buy from this article.
In his memoir, [“Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories from a Sore Winner”] (published by Regalo Press), Tony- and Emmy-winning composer Marc Shaiman, known for Broadway hits like “Hairspray,” and music for “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut,” writes of his half-century in show business.
Read the prologue below, in which he recounts preparing to perform on the Oscar stage with the idol of his youth, Bette Midler (an adoration that would grow into a collaboration),and don’t miss Tracy Smith’s interview with Marc Shaiman on [“CBS Sunday Morning”] March 1!
*
[“Never Mind the Happy” by Marc Shaiman]
Prefer to listen?[Audible]has a 30-day free trial available right now.
*
Prologue
It’s February 24, 2019, and I am on stage with Bette Midler at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, moments away from performing at the 91st Annual Academy Awards. On the other side of the closed curtain are 3,400 of the most powerful and successful players in Hollywood—plus another thirty million people tuning into the television coverage worldwide. One such player in the auditorium is Scott Wittman, my lyrical collaborator of almost fifty years, with whom I co-wrote the Oscar-nominated song “The Place Where Lost Things Go”—the very song Bette and I are about to perform. It has only been two months since Disney released Mary Poppins Returns—which has garnered my sixth and seventh Oscar nominations— and even though I am calm as I sit at the keyboard of the polished black grand piano, I am also conscious of what a fight it has been to get here.
A few weeks earlier, on the morning the Oscar nominations were announced, my husband, Lou Mirabal, and I sat on the couch in our Manhattan loft, our golden retriever, Chops, no doubt wondering why we were glued to the television at 8:30 a.m. instead of making her breakfast. A similar scene was playing out with Scott and his partner, Brian, at their apartment just six blocks to the south. Mary Poppins Returns had been a hit film, if not the billion-dollar blowout the studio had hoped it would be. Scott and I were very proud of the songs we wrote for the sequel to Disney’s classic about a magical British nanny, but they had inevitably been compared to the unforgettable music from the original—so we didn’t know if we should get our hopes up on the morning of the nominations.
Luckily, Oscar smiled and we were nominated for our song “The Place Where Lost Things Go,” and I was also nominated for Best Score. We were all excited and relieved, perhaps nobody more than Lou, because he was the one who would have had to mop me off the floor if things had turned out differently.
I always say, though, that if showbiz puts you on a pedestal on Tuesday, it’s only to have a better shot at your balls on Thursday. And right on schedule, after two days of elation, the producers of that year’s Oscars telecast announced that of the five nominated songs, only two—one a duet by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper from A Star Is Born, the other by Kendrick Lamar and SZA from Black Panther—would be performed. Clearly, they wanted star power to boost the broadcast’s ratings and, by cutting three songs, perhaps also trim a few minutes from its running time. But to say the remaining songs were not worthy of inclusion sent a message both to the public—and worse, to the Oscar voters, who had yet to cast their ballots—that they were not considered equal. It really was a low blow.
What those Oscars producers didn’t anticipate, however, was just how much a dog with a bone I can be. First, I put together an appeal from the writers of the three orphaned songs (including my dear and foul-mouthed friend Diane Warren)—but that led to a dead end. Then, I went to Alan Horn, who was chairman of Walt Disney Studios at the time and who I knew from his years as Rob Reiner’s producing partner. Since Disney owns ABC, the television network that broadcasts the Oscars, I thought he would be able to pull some strings—but he gruffly said, “The ship has sailed, there’s nothing I can do.” Well, maybe there was nothing he could do, but I was not going to give up.
I had met Bradley Cooper a few times due to our shared friendship with the great actor Victor Garber. Bradley had been to the home I then shared with Scott, my romantic partner for nearly thirty years, when he and Victor were filming the TV show Alias, and he had always been very friendly whenever I ran into him at other showbiz functions. I had also just recently become pals with Kevin Feige, Supreme Intelligence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, it was at an Academy event just a few weeks earlier (where we had all been schmoozing for nominations) when someone tapped me on my shoulder and said, “Kevin Feige would like to meet you.”
“Kevin Feige would like to meet me?” I queried. I was in shock and couldn’t believe, of all nights, that my Marvel-nerd husband wasn’t with me. It turned out Kevin, who you would think is busy enough, also has time to be a serious film-score fanatic. And after enjoying a few minutes of him praising my work, I asked if we could take a selfie together so I could send it to Lou.
Not only are Bradley and Kevin two of the nicest guys in Hollywood, at that moment, being friendly with them was uniquely useful. After all, Bradley produced A Star Is Born and Kevin produced Black Panther—the two films whose Oscar-nominated songs had been anointed by the Academy to be performed. So, I reached out to them both to explain the situation, which they agreed was unfair, and each offered to do what they could to help.
I’m not privy to what happened next, but those two gentlemen clearly have their own superpowers, because only a day or so later, it was announced that all five songs would be performed. Thank you, Bradley, and thank you, Kevin—if you ever need a favor from someone less powerful, let me know.
And so, I made it onto the Oscars stage that year after all. Moments before our performance, through the curtain, I could hear the orchestra play a snatch of our movie theme, and then the crowd respond as Keegan-Michael Key was lowered from the ceiling of the Dolby Theatre clutching a Mary Poppins–style black umbrella.
“This evening’s next nominee for best original song was written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman for the film Mary Poppins Returns,” he said. “In addition to lifting the Banks children’s spirits through a series of magical adventures, Mary Poppins offers comfort and compassion with this tender lullaby, underscoring the notion that a loved one who is lost can still be very much present. Performing ‘The Place Where Lost Things Go’ with Marc Shaiman on piano, please welcome the Divine Miss M.”
(Both Bette and I thought—but of course did not have time to discuss in the moment—What, he couldn’t say her name?
Then the curtain lifted, Bette stepped into the spotlight as twenty-eight red umbrella lanterns descended against a stage backdrop of London’s foggy skyline, and I started accompanying my favorite performer in the world—on a song I had co-written with my cherished collaborator—from a musical about my most beloved literary character—at the Academy Awards.
How did I get there? Well, as an old-school piano player might say, it went a little something like this…
From “Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories from a Sore Winner” by Marc Shaiman. © 2026 by Marc Shaiman. Reprinted with permission from Regalo Press. All Rights Reserved.
*
Get the book here:
[“Never Mind the Happy” by Marc Shaiman]
Buy locally from[Bookshop.org]
*
For more info:
- [“Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories from a Sore Winner”]by Marc Shaiman (Regalo Press), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats
- [marcshaiman.com (Official site)]
In:
