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Monday, August 10, 2020

Spend an Evening with Alan Menken and Be Part of Disney History

by Beth Keating
News
DisneyBizJournal.com
August 10, 2020

Until Friday, you have the opportunity to share a virtual evening with Disney Legend and composer Alan Menken for a good cause – a fundraiser for The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. The event, originally held on August 6, will be available to viewers until August 14.


“An Evening With Alan Menken” was seen by more than 20,000 fans, and featured music, storytelling and interviews. In the first portion of the evening, a VIP ticketed event, Menken was interviewed by former Disney music exec Chris Montan. It was followed by “An Intimate Performance With Alan Menken.” 

Special guest and fellow composer and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda then jumps in to join the festivities. Throughout, Menken plays medleys of his songs, from Hercules, Little Shop of Horrors, PocahontasEnchanted, Newsies, Hunchback of Notre Dame, TangledGalavantThe Little Mermaid, Beauty and the BeastAladdin, and more. Along the way, the composers also chat about the creative process of writing for animation.

Mr. Menken is a newly minted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony winner), the 16th person to ever do so. (You get to take a peek at his trophies during the show, as he takes you on a quick tour down the hall to his studio room.) 

Disney fans, however, perhaps know Menken best as half of the writing duo, with Howard Ashman, who brought you the music to such Disney Renaissance Age animation favorites as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. His musical career spans nearly 40 years, though, including 8 Oscars (4 for Best Song and 4 for Best Score), a 2012 Tony award for his score for Newsies, and 11 Grammy Awards, with Song of the Year for Aladdin’s “A Whole New World”. 

In 2001, he was named a “Disney Legend,” and in 2008, he was inducted as a member into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. Also, 2010 brought him his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Menken is currently partnering with Disney alum Miranda in creating some of the new tunes to be added to the upcoming live-action The Little Mermaid.

The Walt Disney Family Museum was founded by Walt’s daughter, Diane Disney Miller, so that her father’s legacy would be preserved, but also to help support future animators. The proceeds from the evening fund the education programs at the museum, as well as a new initiative called the At-Promise Youth Animation Academy, an intensive, state-of-the-art animation-focused training program for high school students.

The Menken-evening benefit was underwritten by The Walt Disney Company, Michele Lund, and The Janet and Clint Reilly Family Foundation, as well as a number of others. An anonymous donor will also match donations dollar-for-dollar up to $25,000. The evening has raised $154,000 as of Monday afternoon, but it’s not too late to be part of the efforts if you’d like. The link to the donation button for the “Evening With Alan Menken” at The Walt Disney Family Museum is here.  

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Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.

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