Alan Menken

Composer

1949-07-22

Alan Menken is an American composer and songwriter known for major work in musical theater and animated film. He composed scores for Disney productions including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas. He is one of the few entertainers to achieve EGOT-level recognition.

Quotes by Alan Menken

'Snow White' was really hip for its time. Walt Disney was basically using Sigmund Romberg and operetta in the telling of the story, and through animation - that was revolutionary.
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There's such a rich trove of unheard Howard Ashman lyrics that we're so blessed to draw from.
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A villain number is a very valuable thing to have, but if you look at most musicals, one way or another there's an antagonist number.
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Music can be witty, but it's not funny unless it's conceptually funny.
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It's writing songs within the structure of telling a story, so it becomes a platform for diverse songwriting, for a writing process that's broader than just figuring out a song. You're also dealing with always pushing the story forward, with casting the voices, with the orchestration, with the arrangements.
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