BlackBook

Sometimes it can seem like the New York stage is an extension of the Hollywood machine, and vice versa.

Alan Menken can make anyone sing; a mermaid, a hunchback, Rapunzel, a street rat - even a candlestick. As the Oscar-winning composer behind such classics as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Pochahontas, and Aladdin, Menken has mastered the intangible art of writing a great song. His always-catchy, heartfelt, magical tunes have accompanied our finest moments, from childhood, to college, and beyond. Today, Menken brings his music from the screen to Broadway, with the debut of three movie-musical adaptations: Sister Act, Newsies, and Leap of Faith. In doing so, audiences get a glimpse of nuns rockin' the rafters, newsboys rebelling against the establishment, and rednecks becoming revived. Here, Menken discusses his Broadway shows, the process of writing a musical, and the secret to always moving forward. 

Let me first say that Newsies is my favorite movie of all time, and I'm not ashamed of it, even if Christian Bale is. Secondly, I'd like to point out that Newsies is ripe for a Broadway re-interpretation: Even though the movie was a flop when it first came out, there's a whole generation of twenty-something nineties nostalgics who want nothing more than to sing along to "Sante Fe" and cry into their playbills. Thirdly, before I show you these awesome video remixes, in which the great "Seize the Day" Newsies dance-a-thon is remixed to a bunch of pop songs--how does it work every time--I want you to know that I know they represent a blasphemous muddying of a sacred text, but that they're also too good to pass up.