Listen: Scott Wittman Talks SOME LIKE IT HOT and More on LITTLE KNOWN FACTS
Scott discussed his career, and his most recent Broadway project, Some Like It Hot, on the podcast.
By: Little Known Facts w/ Ilana Levine Jan. 23, 2023
Little Known Facts is a weekly podcast hosted by stage and film actress Ilana Levine. With over 250 interviews to date with today's most successful artists, Levine engages her celebrity guests in intimate conversations that are hilarious, vulnerable, revealing and inspiring. Ilana's unique brand of celebrity interview has been called "Podcast Vérité," because her conversations are unfiltered, raw, honest and uniquely funny.
This week's episode features Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award winning lyricist, director, writer, and conceiver, Scott Wittman!
Scott discussed his career, and his most recent Broadway project, Some Like It Hot, on the podcast. He talked about how this latest musical in his repertoire came to be.
"We were in London shooting Mary Poppins Returns and we got a call from Craig Zadan and Neil Meron who were the producers," he revealed. "The rights were difficult to obtain because there had already been a musical in the 70s, that was basically the movie on stage. There was no need to do that again."
Scott went on to reveal that they pitched the idea of the Marilyn character being black, which put a whole new spin on the story.
Listen to the full episode below!
Scott Wittman co-wrote the lyrics for the hit musical Hairspray (Tony, Grammy, Olivier Award winner) with creative partner Marc Shaiman. Wittman also served as an executive producer on the hit film starring John Travolta.
Scott was nominated for a Golden Globe, Grammy, and two Emmy Awards for the original songs on NBC's musical drama Smash. While working on the show, he co-wrote songs for Jennifer Hudson, Uma Thurman, Bernadette Peters, and Liza Minnelli. Shaiman and Wittman's original score for the Marilyn Monroe musical Bombshell was released by Sony Records.
Scott & Marc's Broadway writing credits include Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, which Scott also directed, Catch Me If You Can (Tony nom. for Best Musical), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Broadway and the West End.
Scott has created and directed two Broadway shows, three studio recordings, and three sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts for Patti LuPone. He has created solo shows for Christine Ebersole and Nathan Lane, as well as writing for Bette Midler's 2015 Divine Intervention World Tour. Off-Broadway, he conceived and directed Jukebox Jackie starring Justin Vivian Bond, Cole Escola, and Bridget Everett at La Mama., and Bridget Everett's Rockbottom at The Public Theatre.
His notorious and legendary Downtown shows are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York
Marc and Scott also wrote the score to Disney's Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt, Lin Manuel Miranda, and Meryl Streep. Directed by Rob Marshall. Their song, "The Place Were Lost Things Go" was nominated for an Oscar.
He recently joined the Marvel Universe with his song cowritten with Marc for "Rodgers:The Musical for "Hawkeye".
They have written a new musical version of "Some Like It Hot" to premiere on Broadway in the fall of 2022.
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