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As the award-winning composer of several Walt Disney Company animated blockbusters, American songwriter Alan Menken ushered in a revival of the movie musical through animated films. His Disney films became huge hits and earned him numerous industry awards, including multiple Academy Awards and Grammy Awards. Menken was born on July 22, 1949, in ...
- Alan Menken
In 2020 Menken won a Daytime Emmy Award for the song...
- Alan Menken
- Early Life
- Career
- Personal Life
- Advocacy
- Musicals
- Awards
Alan Irwin Menken was born on July 22, 1949, at French Hospital in Manhattan, to Judith and Norman Menken. His father was a boogie-woogie piano-playing dentist, and his mother was an actress, dancer and playwright. His family was Jewish. Menken developed an interest in music at an early age, taking piano and violin lessons. He began to compose at a...
Early career
After graduating, Menken's plan was to become either a rock star or a recording artist. His interest in writing musicals increased when he joined the Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Musical Theatre Workshop and was mentored by Lehman Engel. From 1974 to 1978, he showcased various BMI workshop works, such as Midnight, Apartment House (lyric by Muriel Robinson), Conversations with Pierre, Harry the Rat and Messiah on Mott Street(lyrics by David Zippel). According to Menken, during this period, he "...
Breakthrough years
Menken finally achieved success as a composer when playwright Howard Ashman chose him and Engel to write the music for his musical adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. The musical opened in 1979 at the WPA Theater to excellent reviews and modest box office. It transferred after several months to the Off-Broadway Entermedia Theater, where it ran for an additional six weeks. Menken and Ashman wrote their next musical, Little Shop of Horrors, for a cast of only 9 per...
Disney Renaissance and later films
On the strength of the success of Little Shop of Horrors, Menken and Ashman were hired by Walt Disney Studios to write the music for The Little Mermaid (1989). The challenge was to create an animated musical film of this Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale that could sit alongside the Disney films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella. The Little Mermaid opened to critical and commercial success and signaled a new Disney era called the Disney Renaissance. The film gave them their firs...
Menken was introduced to ballet dancer Janis Roswick while working with the Downtown Ballet Company. They have been married since November 1972 and live in North Salem, New Yorkwith their two daughters, Anna and Nora.
In an open letter published April 5th, 2024, Menken along with 491 other Jewish creatives voiced support for The Zone of Interestdirector Jonathan Glazer's Oscar speech that expressed sympathy for the Palestinian victims in the 2023-2024 war in Gaza, as well as Israeli victims of October 7th, 2023, while condemning Israel's Occupation of Palestine ...
Other
1. Aladdin, Jr. – 1-act, 7-scene musical adapted from the animated film Aladdin1992 2. Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage – Theatrical show at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World 3. Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular – Theatrical show at Disney California Adventure 4. The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Theatrical show at Disney's MGM Studios, Walt Disney World 5. The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure – Attraction at Disney California Adventure 6. Sindbad's Storybook Voyage...
Alan Menken has received eight Academy Awards (and nineteen nominations), eleven Grammy Awards (and twenty-four nominations), one Tony Award (and four nominations), and one Daytime Emmy Award. He has also received seven Golden Globe Awards (and sixteen nominations), one Drama Desk Award (and five nominations), and three Outer Critics Awards. He was...
In 2020, Menken reached EGOT status when he won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song in a Children's, Young Adult or Animated Program for co-writing the song "Waiting in the Wings" for Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure.
Mar 20, 2024 · “I do not like to write for kids at all. I’m terrible at it,” he told Playbill recently from his idyllic farm estate in Westchester, New York. And he has receipts.
Children of the World. Alan wrote “Children Of The World”, a rock ballet for the Downtown Ballet Company. In a review it was said “His score for ‘Children Of The World’ has the vigor of protest, yet it is lyrical, affecting and effective.”. Play Song.
Jan 25, 2024 · Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, songwriter, singer, conductor, music director and record producer. Menken is best known for his scores and songs for movies produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios.
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In 2020 Menken won a Daytime Emmy Award for the song “Waiting in the Wings,” which was featured in the children’s TV series Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. With the victory, he became the 16th person to win the four major North American entertainment awards ( EGOT : Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony).
