Alan Menken
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
American composer Alan Menken was responsible for some of the best known film and stage musicals of the late 20th Century. Born in New York City, he originally set out to become a recording artist. In the mid-'70s, he began gravitating towards musical theater, contributing songs to a number of revues and workshops. His early attempts to write a full musical, though, went unproduced. His luck changed when he began a long partnership with playwright and lyricist Howard Ashman. They worked together on a musical adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" that ran Off-Broadway. Their next collaboration, however, earned them a place in musical theater history. Based on a little seen 1960 film, "Little Shop of Horrors" opened in 1982 and went on to become the highest grossing Off-Broadway production of all time. The play was adapted to film in 1986, and Menken and Ashman's original composition "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space" earned the duo an Oscar nomination. The pair were hired by Disney as the company was attempting to reinvigorate its animated film division. They wrote the music for "The Little Mermaid" (1989), winning Oscars for Best Original Song ("Under the Sea") and Best Score. That kicked off one of the most successful runs in film history. They partnered again on "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), and added another two Academy Awards. As work began on Disney's next animated offering, "Aladdin" (1992), Ashman died from complications related to AIDS. Famed lyricist Tim Rice stepped in and worked with Menken to complete the music for "Aladdin," and again, the film won Oscars for Best Original Song ("A Whole New World") and Best Score. Menken also worked with Jack Feldman on Disney's live-action musical, "Newsies" (1992). While the film was considered a flop, the property went on to find new life as a successful Broadway show. Menken returned to working with Disney animation, working with Stephen Schwartz on "Pocahontas" (1995) and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996), as well as with David Zippel for "Hercules" (1997). He also contributed the score to a number of other films, including "Life With Mikey" (1993), "Home On the Range" (2004) and "Tangled" (2010). Menken and Schwartz reunited to provide the music for Disney's hit "Enchanted" (2007). He also worked with the studio to adapt both "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin" into Tony-winning Broadway shows. He had additional success adapting the films "Sister Act" and "A Bronx Tale" into Broadway musicals. Menken's Disney partnership continued as well. He worked with the studio on its live-action film adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast" (2017), before partnering with the Oscar and Tony-winning team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul on a live-action version of "Aladdin" (2019). He went on to work with Broadway superstar Lin-Manuel Miranda on a similar update of "The Little Mermaid" and re-teamed with Schwartz on the "Enchanted" sequel, "Disenchanted."
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Music (Special)
Misc. Crew (Special)
Music (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1978
Chosen by playwright and lyricist Howard Ashman to write the music for the WPA (and later off-Broadway) musical, "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater"
1980
Contributed two songs (which he also performed) to the feature film, "The Line"
1980
Considered leaving show business after a series of flops
1982
Premiered "Little Shop of Horrors" Off-Broadway
1986
Adapted the song score for "Little Shop of Horrors" for the feature film version
1987
Composed the music for a musical production of "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" (lyrics by David Spencer) produced in Philadelphia
1989
Composed music for Disney's "The Little Mermaid"
1990
Contributed the song, "The Measure of a Man" to "Rocky V"; performed by Elton John
1991
Wrote (with Ashman), produced and arranged songs for another well-received Disney feature, "Beauty and the Beast"
1991
After Ashman died during the project, began collaborating with lyricist Tim Rice on the Disney feature, "Aladdin"
1992
Composed music for "Weird Romance" (with David Spencer lyrics) produced off-Broadway
1992
Filed breach of contract suit against Concorde-New Horizons over the musical rights to "Little Shop of Horrors" after Concorde granted an option for an animated TV series (using the music) to Saban International
1992
Wrote eight songs (in collaboration with lyricist Jack Feldman) and the score for Disney's live-action musical, "Newsies"
1994
Composed the music for the hit NYC musical production of "A Christmas Carol" at Madison Square Garden's Paramount Theater
1995
Composed the score and music for the songs (Stephen Schwartz provided the lyrics) for Disney's animated hit "Pocahontas"
1997
With David Zippel, wrote the songs for Disney's animated "Hercules"
1998
Signed 10-year contract with Disney to provide songs for animated and live-action films
2002
Worked with Gelbart on a musical adaptation of "Lysistrata" for the American Repertory Theatre; version not produced as ART artistic director deemed it "ferociously obscene"
2004
Composed the music for the animated feature, "Home on the Range"
2007
Composed all the music for the live-action/animated film, "Enchanted"; earned a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for the song, "That's How You Know"; also received two additional Oscar nominations for the songs "Happy Working Song" and "So Close"
2008
Composed and wrote the music for the Broadway musical version of "The Little Mermaid"; earned a Tony award nomination for Best Original Score
2011
Teamed with Glenn Slater to compose the music for Broadway's "Sister Act"; earned a Tony nomination for Best Original Score
Family
Companions
