Marc Shaiman to
pen tunes for Bob the Musical

Tony-winning composer-lyricist Marc Shaiman has signed on for musical duties on Touchstone Pictures' Bob the Musical . Mark Waters (Mean Girls) is attached to direct the musical comedy. The openly gay Shaiman, who was nominated for an Oscar for cowriting the song "Blame Canada" in 1999's South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut , will write music and lyrics for the Mike Bender-written comedy that follows a mild-mannered man who suddenly hears the "inner song" of people's hearts after being struck in the head. Shaiman also will act as a consultant to musical-ize the script.

"Once I read the script, I felt I had to do it," Shaiman said in an interview. "I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if someone else did it. It's a very sweet valentine to musicals, but [it] sends them up at the same time." Shaiman said the script will show why people sing in musicals: "The emotions are so strong that dialogue is not enough. It takes that and shows it in a literal sense and a magical sense. And each person he comes across, male and female, has a different point of view and different emotion, and they'll be different generationally and socially, so each song will be unique. It's our way to have our cake and eat it too, with many different styles."

Shaiman, who won a Tony as composer and colyricist on Broadway's Hairspray , is a five-time Academy Award nominee for his work on such movies as The First Wives Club and The American President . He is working on the stage musical of Catch Me If You Can . (Borys Kit, Reuters)