Alan Menken, composer of songs for Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin,” believes the right combination of music, lyrics, and story can transport audiences to a “whole new world.” increase.
the current, Disney has three movies that have been adapted into musical productions that are currently touring.: “Frozen”, “Lion King”, “Aladdin”. Aladdin is touring across Canada with stops in Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.
Menken joined CTV’s Your Morning on Monday to explain how songs play on film compared to stage, and what it’s like to work with different mediums as a composer.
“In the film, there are close-ups, so you can see what someone is thinking,” Menken said. “On stage, in a way, the songs are like close-ups. So there are more singing moments in (stage) musicals than, for example, in film musicals.”
Menken, along with fellow Disney composer Howard Ashman, who died in 1991, composed several versions of the song for the animated version of “Aladdin.”
“So there was a rich valley to enrich the story and tell as a stage musical,” Menken said.
Disney has also made live-action adaptations of its animated films, including the latest The Little Mermaid.
Menken said working on the new film will bring back memories of composing songs from the original film and watching them on VHS with his daughter.
“The only safe places in the world were these movies,” Menken said. “We were convinced that we were contributing to something very big and powerful.”
Click the video at the top of this article to watch the full interview with Menken.
