Marc Shaiman will be Oscars’ Music Director

Posted 9 months, 1 week ago at 12:10 pm. 0 comments

The creative team for next year’s Academy Awards telecast is shaping up, and will include 5-time Oscar nominee Marc Shaiman.  Shaiman will serve as music director for the 82nd Academy Awards, telecast producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic announced today.

“With Marc on board, we are sure to have some great musical and, hopefully, hysterical moments,” said Mechanic.

“Marc was my inspiration and musical partner on ‘Hairspray’ and he has been responsible for some of the most memorable moments in Oscar history, like Will Ferrell and Jack Black’s comedy numbers,” said Shankman. “He’s a genius! And he’d be the first to tell you!”

Shaiman is a prolific music composer who has earned five Academy Award® nominations. He received Original Score nominations for his work on “The American President” (1995), “The First Wives Club” (1996) and “Patch Adams” (1998), and he received nominations in the Original Song category for “A Wink and a Smile” from “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993) and for “Blame Canada” from “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut” (1999). Shaiman has also been nominated for four Emmy® Awards, three of which were for his work on Oscar telecasts. He won the Emmy in 1992 for co-writing Billy Crystal’s “Oscar Medley” for the 64th Academy Awards. Shaiman’s other film credits include “The Bucket List,” “Bee Movie,” “Hairspray,” “A Few Good Men,” “Sister Act” and “City Slickers.”

He Kissed a Boy! No Good Morning for Adam Lambert

Posted 9 months, 1 week ago at 12:07 pm. 0 comments

American Idol heartthrob Adam Lambert’s scheduled appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America has been cancelled following his controversial number on Sunday’s VMA Awards show.  Reportedly some 1500 complaints flooded ABC after Adam locked lips with one of his male bandmates, live on east coast TV.  The west coast feed was censored.

Say Cheese! Flashmob on Bondi Beach

Posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago at 11:30 am. 0 comments

Stephen Sondheim | Queer of the Month | November 2009

Posted 10 months ago at 9:38 am. 0 comments

Preeminent composer of stage musicals, Stephen Sondheim worked with Leonard Bernstein on West Side Story and wrote words and music for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Little Night Music, Sweeny Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Into the Woods.  He won an Academy Award for his work on Dick Tracy in 1990.

Sondheim stayed in the closet until 1998 despite rampant speculation about his sexuality.  His first long-term relationship had begun late in life, with a younger man named Peter Jones, whom he met in 1991.  The two eventually lived together and exchanged wedding rings, but Jones later moved out.

“I was sexually very late blooming,” Sondheim has said.  From the beginning, though, his work has resonated with gay men, and regardless of his personal life, he has held a prominent position in gay culture.

Vote for December’s Queer of the Month in the poll in the right column.