Tag: Alan Menken

  • Richard Sherman and Alan Menken: The Disney Songbook

    This first-ever joint performance by Disney Legends Richard Sherman and Alan Menken was probably the single thing I was most looking forward to at the D23 Expo.

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    Between the two of them (and their writing partners), they are responsible for so much of the music that is associated with Disney films and theme park attractions.   It was truly a wonderful trip down memory lane.    There’s just no way to capture the magic in words, so I would highly recommend watching the linked videos of each performance.    If you can’t spare the time to do that, then just scanning the list of songs performed by each of them will give you a feel of how much each of these gentlemen has contributed to the Disney songbook

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    In the first half of the concert, Richard Sherman played and sang  (age before beauty …. and the beast, as Alan said after they were introduced and he yielded the stage to Richard).   This first segment was hosted by Tim O’Day, a frequent host at the D23 events, who kept things moving along and kept a nice conversation going with Richard between songs.

    Richard Sherman’s Set

    Richard opened with the first thing he wrote for Disney, Taul Paul, a song written for Annette Funicello.   The Sherman brothers collaborated on a number of other songs for Annette; the second piece performed was Pineapple Princess, also written for Annette.

    The Shermans also wrote for Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap; Let’s Get Together was the next piece on the program.

    When Walt decided to be one of the first to start producing television shows in color, he asked the Shermans to write “something about color”.   The resulting Wonderful World of Color was used to open the television show, and still plays in Disney’s California Adventure every evening as the opening number in the World of Color water show.

    The Ugly Bug Ball was written for Burl Ives to perform in Summer Magic .. I think this may be the only song Richard performed that I wasn’t previously familiar with.

    Next we were treated to a trio of songs from Winnie the Pooh;  the title song, Pooh’s exercise song, and The Wonderful Thing about Tiggers.

    Then a couple of songs from The Jungle Book .. That’s What Friends are For (the vulture song) and I Wanna Be Like You.     (Trivia note:  The Bare Necessities is not a Sherman Brothers tune, it was the only bit of music that survived from an earlier story treatment that predated the Sherman’s involvement).

    IMG_3877While introducing the next number, The Aristocats, Richard mentioned that his father was also a composer, and had also written for the theme song’s singer, Maurice Chevalier.

    From Bedknobs and Broomsticks, we heard The Age of Not Believing.

    We heard some of the best-known Sherman Brothers theme park songs:   The Tiki Room, and from Epcot’s Imagination pavilion, One Little Spark and Magic Journeys.

    At this point, Richard was joined on stage by Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak who play Richard and his brother Robert in the upcoming film Saving Mr. Banks.    They performed A Spoonful of Sugar.   Richard then continued with other Mary Poppins tunes Chim Chim Cheree and Feed the Birds.

    Another theme park favorite, There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, was used to close out the set.    After leaving the stage briefly, Richard returned to serve up an encore of Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious.

    Watch Richard Sherman’s full set here.

    Alan Menken’s Set

    Richard and Tim left the stage, and Alan came out to perform his set.    While Richard performed full songs, for the most part, Alan relied heavily on medleys of songs from each of his Disney productions.   This allowed him to cover just about twice the number of songs in roughly the same amount of time as Richard’s set.

    Alan opened with The Little Mermaid, performing Part of Your World, and then a medley of Under the Sea, Poor Unfortunate Souls, Les Poissons, and Kiss the Girl.

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    Next he did a medley of additional songs that were added to the Broadway version of The Little Mermaid;   If Only, She’s in Love, and Her Voice.

    From Beauty and the Beast, we heard a medley of Belle, Gaston, Be Our Guest, and Beauty and the Beast.

    From Beauty and the Beast’s Broadway production we heard Human Again (originally written for the movie, but cut) and If I Can’t Love Her.

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    From Aladdin, a medley of Arabian Nights, One Jump Ahead, and Friend Like Me.

    From Newsies, Carrying the Banner, King of New York, and Santa Fe.

    Next was Pocahontas, from which we heard In the Middle of the River, If I Never Knew You, and Colors of the Wind.

    A medley of Hunchback of Notre Dame songs included The Bells of Notre Dame, God Help the Outcast, and One Day Out There.

    The Hercules medley comprised The Gospel Truth, Zero to Hero, and Go the Distance.

    From Home on the Range, we heard Little Patch of Heaven, Yodle-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo, and Will the Sun Ever Shine Again.

    For Enchanted, Alan shared that before he came on to the project, they were looking for a composer who could parody his musical style.    Turns out, he was just the guy to do that, and with True Love’s Kiss and Happy Working Song we hear songs that are amazingly good reproductions of Menken’s style, by Menken.

    We heard four songs from Tangled:   When Will My Life Begin, Mother Knows Best, I’ve Got a Dream, and I See the Light.

    Alan actually wrote a bit of music for Captain America.   Star Spangled Man With a Plan is played during the 1940’s era of the film when Captain America is being used to pitch savings bonds.

    He also provided a song for The Neighbors sitcom episode “Sing Like A Larry Bird”, the song The Broadway Allen Song has been nominated for an Emmy and, if it wins, will give Alan the EGOT (Emmy, Golden Globe, Oscar, and Tony), as well as a Razzie.

    To close out his set, Alan performed Somebody’s Got Your Back, from the under-development Broadway production of Aladdin.

    Alan performed a solo encore of How Does She Know (from Enchanted).

    Watch Alan Menken’s full set here.

    Sherman & Menken Encore

    Richard Sherman and Tim O’Day returned to the stage.    Tim asked, in an obvious set up, if either them had written any songs about “worlds”.

    Alan responded with A Whole New World (Aladdin).

    Richard then took the piano and asked Alan to perform the counterpoint as they led the audience in it’s a small world to close out the evening.

    Watch the joint encores here

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  • D23 Expo 2013: Broadway and Beyond

    A fun evening took place in Stage 23 last evening as Disney Theatrical Productions put on a special one-time showing, “Broadway and Beyond”, featuring musical selections from many current, previous, and even future Broadway productions.

    The show opened with a selection of songs from Beauty and the Beast — appropriate since that show was Disney’s first foray onto the Broadway stage.   We first heard “Be Our Guest”, done by all five performers, then “Beauty and the Best” by Heidi and “If I Can’t Love Her” by Alton.

    After this opening, Thomas Schumacher, President and Producer at Disney Theatrical Productions, came out to make introductory remarks.    He shared that there are currently 17 productions playing around the world under the Disney Theatrical Productions banner.   He introduced the 5-piece orchestra (can you be an orchestra with only 5 pieces?  I think yes if one of them is a violin) and the performers.    All of the performers remained onstage throughout the show — so whoever wasn’t currently performing was a back-up singer, or, frequently, just an enthusiastic spectator.    Clearly they all enjoyed each other’s performances and it was always fun to watch everyone, not just whoever was currently in the spotlight.

    The performers were:

    • Heidi Blickenstaff.   Played Ursula in The Little Mermaid
    • Ashley Brown.  Originated the role of Mary Poppins in the stage version, previously played Belle in Beauty and the Beast.   Non-Disney roles include Laurey in Oklahoma and Maria in The Sound of Music.
    • Merle Dandridge.   Played Kala in Tarzan and Aida in Aida.   Also in Broadway productions of Rent, Spamalot, and Jesus Christ Superstar
    • Josh Strickland.   Originated the role of Tarzan.
    • Alton Fitzgerald White.   Mufasa in The Lion King.   Also in Broadway productions of The Color Purple, Ragtime, The Who’s Tommy, and Miss Saigon.

    Photography wasn’t allowed during tonight’s performance, and words just can’t do it justice … so I’ll have to settle for providing the set list.   It was truly a fantastic evening.

    And we had a few special guests in the audience — Alan Menken and Richard Sherman, both of whom will be performing tomorrow night, and between them responsible for well over half of the music we heard tonight.

    The second featured musical was The Lion King.   We were treated to “Hakuna Mutata” (Alton and Josh), “Shadowland” (Merle), and “They Live in You” (Alton).    (By the way, if your only exposure to these stories is from the movies, many song titles will be unfamiliar as in the process of taking these stories to Broadway, the book and score are both expanded — usually with the original composer providing additional songs.

    Next was a song from the German production Der Glockner Von Notre Dame.   This production will probably be reworked into an English-language version at some point, and the song performed by Josh, “Made of Stone”, was in English suggesting this may already be underway.

    Next up were a few songs from Aida.  “Easy as Life” was performed by the original Aida, Merle, then Josh did a fun and funny interpretation of a spoiled, fashion-obsession princess in “My Strongest Suit”.

    Tarzan was well represented with the original Tarzan (Josh) and Kala (Merle).   The two of them sang a duet of “You’ll be in my Heart”, and then Josh performed “For the First Time” with Ashley (performing Jane).

    Another musical where we had an original lead was Mary Poppins.   Ashley first performed “Practically Perfect in Every Way”, one of the songs added for the stage.   Then Alton and Ashley gave us “Jolly Holiday” and “Chim Chim Cheree”.   Then, perhaps the most moving moment of the evening, Ashley gave a goosebump-inducing version of “Feed the Birds”.    This received an enthusiastic standing ovation from the crowd and reportedly brought Richard Sherman to tears; it was Walt’s favorite song and after tonight I suspect it will be a favorite of quite a few more attendees.

    Things then got more upbeat with selections from The Little Mermaid.   The entire ensemble performed “She’s in Love”.   Then Heidi gave a subtle, nuanced interpretation (not!) of “Poor, Unfortunate Souls”, and Ashley concluded the segment with “Part of Your World’.

    From here we continued to Newsies.   “Carrying the Banner” was performed by the quintet, then Ashley sang “Watch What Happens” and was followed by Josh and “Santa Fe”.

    We then got to hear a couple of selection from the rarely-performed King David.   Heidi gave us “Never Again”, Alton was joined by the others in “The Long Long Day’.

    To wrap up the evening, we got to hear a new song from an under-development Aladdin musical.   Alton (as the Genie) and Josh (as Aladdin) performed the buddy song “Somebody’s Got Your Back”, supported by the other performers.

    It was a very entertaining evening; D23 has really been on a roll with the evening performances since the Destination: D Animation event, and I hope they continue to provide these wonderful nightcaps at future events.

  • D23 Expo Preview: Panels and Performances

    Really tough choices in picking what to see and do at the D23 Expo.

    To some degree, I’m being guided this year by what things blew me away in 2011.   So the Legends ceremony in 2011 was incredible, and as a result I’m planning to do Legends this year even though it’s got some tough competition in the timeslot.

    This might change between now and show time, but as it stands now here are the things I plan to attend.

    Saturday:

    • Art and Imagination:  A preview of upcoming Disney and Pixar animated features.
    • Undiscovered Disneyland:  stories, film, and photos from the construction and early years in the park.
    • Marty Sklar:  Dream It, Do It.    Walt’s right-hand man for theme parks, one of several presentations Marty will be involved in this week
    • The Art and Artistry of Aulani – Disney Vacation Club’s Hawaiian resort
    • Broadway and Beyond – live performances from cast members of Disney’s various Broadway productions

    Saturday

    • Let the Adventures Begin:  A preview of upcoming Disney, Marvel, and LucasFilm live action features.
    • Once Upon a Time panel – a look at the ABC TV series
    • Disney Legends Ceremony – inducting this year’s newly named Legends
    • Crash Course in the Force:  Star Wars 101.   Curious to see if we’ll learn anything new about the upcoming features.
    • Richard Sherman and Alan Menken in concert — the Disney Songbook.

    Sunday

    • Working With Walt — an incredible panel of Disney Legends featuring Marty Sklar, X Atencio, Alice Davis, and Bob Gurr
    • To Infinity and Beyond:  Disney Interactive.   Need to finally figure out what this Disney Infinity thing really is.
    • Leading a Legacy –  Disney Imagineering panel
    • Leave ’em Laughing – Disney Imagineering panel

    I’m happy with those choices — but so many great-sounding presentations didn’t make it onto my final list, including

    • Behind the Scenes of Mary Poppins, with Dave Smith
    • Mayhem, Mischief, and Monkeys – the Mystic Manor attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland
    • Inside the Ice — a look at the upcoming Frozen animated feature
    • Voices of the Parks — the voices you hear throughout Disney theme parks share stories
    • The Art of the Good Dinosaur – a look at the upcoming Pixar feature
    • The DNA of Innovation – another Disney Imagineering presentation
    • Women of Pixar – the write-up on this doesn’t list the panelists, so not sure if they are primarily animators, executives, or a mix.
    • Craft of Creativity – another Disney Imagineering presentation

    I hope to hear from others who are attending these sessions so I can get a recap of what I missed.

    Panels and presentations are only a portion of what goes on at the Expo — there are also meet-and-greets, lots of shopping opportunities, artists, podcasters, and of course just meeting and hanging out with fellow fans.    More on all those things as the Expo gets underway, starting with the Sorcerer Preview day on Thursday August 8th.

    See ya real soon!

  • Expo Anticipation

    This year I’ll be attending my second D23 Expo … for the first expo in 2009, there wasn’t a whole lot of information released ahead of time, and I decided to take a pass.    When I saw updates from the Expo as it was happening, I realized I’d made a bad call … there was some amazing stuff going on, and I was missing out!

    So for the 2011 Expo I was there for all 3 days.  I absolutely loved what I saw — but what I saw was only a small fraction of what I wanted to see.    Unlike most of the other D23 events, where a ticket guarantees you a seat at every presentation, an Expo ticket only grants you the right to stand in line to get into the presentations.   Many of the most popular presentations filled up well ahead of their starting time, so anyone showing up a few minutes before a presentation was not going to find a seat.    So, if you wanted to see a 2 pm presentation, you pretty much had to forgo any presentations at 1 pm and start lining up between noon and 1 pm for the 2 o’clock.   For the main arena presentations, typically held first thing in the morning, lining up outside the convention center 2 hours ahead of doors opening was pretty much the minimum … for a while on Saturday we actually believed we were going to be the very last people admitted to the Studios presentation (they cut off the line behind us, but later let through about 100 more people).

    So, this year I wanted to maximize my chances to see as much as I could … which means Sorcerer.   A very limited number of Sorcerer tickets are sold, and each ticket guarantees a seat at any presentation (it appears we will be asked to register for the presentations we plan to attend just before the expo, so that they’ll have an exact count of how many seats to set aside in each presentation).     It’s a pricey indulgence, but for a once-every-two-years event, with a lot of content that will never be repeated anywhere at any price, I thought it would be worth it.   I hope they prove me right.

    So I’m watching the schedule as it fills in on the web site (D23 doesn’t announce everything at once, but trickles out the content in the weeks leading up to the Expo).    Already I see some tough choices … Friday morning at 10 am is the Animation presentation, with John Lassiter, covering all the upcoming Disney and Pixar animated features.    I have to be there for that … but that means I’ll miss Dave Smith (Disney Archivist Emeritus) discussing the making of Mary Poppins, and the Imagineers discussing the Mystic Manor attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland.     If only I had a few clones to send to those other presentations!

    Things got a little more real this week when the Expo credentials arrived … it’s very exciting to have my tickets in hand, but seriously … couldn’t they have run this through a spell checker and found the correct spelling of Sorcerer?

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    I think the things I’m looking forward to most at this point are the evening concerts .. Friday night we get “Broadway and Beyond”, featuring current and previous cast members of Disney Theatrical Group’s Broadway productions.    Then on Saturday, Alan Menken and Richard Sherman take the stage together for the first time … I saw Menken perform at the Destination D: 75 Years of Disney Feature Animation event and it was a highlight.    I’m sure this will be an equally memorable evening.

    If you’re at the Expo this year, look for me and say hi … and comment below with what you’re most looking forward to at this year’s Expo.