Scott Wittman is an American director, lyricist, composer and writer for Broadway, concerts, and television.

Life and career

Wittman was raised in

Nanuet, New York Nanuet is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, New York, United States. The third largest hamlet in Clarkstown, it is located north of Pearl River, south of New City, east of Spring Valley, and west of West Nyack. ...

, graduated from Nanuet Senior High School in 1972 and attended

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also maintains campuses in Los Angeles and Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of Public Speaking, o ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

for two years before leaving to pursue a career in musical theatre in New York City. While directing a show for a

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

club he met songwriter and composer

Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman ( ; born October 22, 1959) is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, best known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman, actor Billy Crystal, and director Rob Reiner. Shaiman ha ...

, and the two became collaborators and professional partners. While Shaiman wrote for television shows, including ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'', Wittman directed concerts for such artists as

Bette Midler Bette Midler ( ;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Bette Midler, numero ...

Christine Ebersole Christine Ebersole (born February 21, 1953) is an American actress, singer and comedian. She has appeared in film, television, and on stage (theatre), stage. She has received two Tony Awards, and a Drama Desk Award as well as a nomination for a ...

Raquel Welch Jo Raquel Welch (; September 5, 1940 – February 15, 2023) was an American actress. Welch first gained attention for her role in ''Fantastic Voyage'' (1966), after which she signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her con ...

Dame Edna Everage Dame Edna Everage, often known simply as Dame Edna, is a character created and portrayed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries, known for her lilac-coloured ("wisteria hue") hair and cat eye glasses ("face furniture"); her favourite flower, ...

, and Lypsinka, among others.Shaiman, Marc (b. 1959), and Scott Wittman (b. 1955)
. GLBTQ.com. In 2002, Shaiman and Wittman wrote the music and lyrics for the musical '' Hairspray'', which won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics, the Tony Award for Best Original Score, and a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

. In addition to ''Hairspray'', Wittman conceived, wrote lyrics for, and directed ''

Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian and American comedian, actor, and writer. Short is known as an energetic comedian who gained prominence for his roles in sketch comedy. He has also acted in numerous films and television ...

: Fame Becomes Me'' and conceived and directed ''Matters of the Heart'', a solo concert by Patti LuPone in 2000. Shaiman and Wittman worked on ''

Catch Me If You Can ''Catch Me If You Can'' is a 2002 American crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks with Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, and James Brolin in ...

'', a musical adaptation of the 2002

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

, together with

Terrence McNally Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," M ...

. The musical opened on Broadway in April 2011. They again worked together on '' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical''. In 2011, '' Hairspray'' was performed at Nanuet Senior High School, where Wittman attended high school. In 2013, Wittman and Marc Shaiman co-wrote the score for '' Bombshell'', a musical about Marilyn Monroe within the context of the NBC television show '' Smash''. A soundtrack was released later that same year. Wittman and Shaiman collaborated in 2018 on ''Mary Poppins Returns'' where Wittman wrote the lyrics for nine of the tracks listed. He and Shaiman were nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the Film industry, motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who h ...

for the song "The Place Where Lost Things Go". In 2021, Wittman and Shaiman wrote a song entitled "Save the City" for the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appe ...

(MCU) in-universe Broadway production, titled '' Rogers: The Musical'' featured in the first episode of Hawkeye, "Never Meet Your Heroes". It was released as a single on November 24, the day the episode became available on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

. In 2021, Wittman and Shaiman wrote the music and lyrics for a new musical adaptation of ''

Some Like It Hot ''Some Like It Hot'' is a 1959 American crime comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Billy Wilder. It stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, with George Raft, Pat O'Brien (actor), Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee an ...

'', which premiered on Broadway in 2022, with a book by

Amber Ruffin Amber Mildred Ruffin (born January 9, 1979) is an American comedian, writer and actress. She hosted her own late-night talk show titled '' The Amber Ruffin Show'' on Peacock. She has been a writer for ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' since 2014. ...

and Matthew Lopez. He has won two Grammy Awards, one Tony and one Emmy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wittman, Scott 20th-century American composers 20th-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American composers 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American male musicians American gay musicians American gay writers American LGBTQ composers American LGBTQ songwriters American male film score composers American male songwriters American musical theatre composers American male musical theatre composers American musical theatre directors American musical theatre lyricists Broadway composers and lyricists Drama Desk Award winners Gay composers Gay songwriters Grammy Award winners LGBTQ film score composers LGBTQ people from New York (state) LGBTQ theatre directors Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Primetime Emmy Award winners Tony Award winners Year of birth missing (living people)