Latest news with #AlanMenken
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Alan Menken gives update on Disney's Tangled live action movie and confirms stage adaptation in the works
Alan Menken has shared his excitement about working on Disney's live action reimagining of Tangled. The legendary American composer, 75, worked on the original 2010 animated movie which is loosely based on the German fairy tale Rapunzel in the collection of folktales published by the Brothers Grimm. Featuring the voice talents of Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, and Donna Murphy, it tells the story of Rapunzel, a lost young princess with magical long blonde hair who yearns to leave her secluded tower. She accepts the help of an intruder to take her out into the world which she has never seen. The animated feature's success inspired the 2012 short film Tangled Ever After and 2017 TV series Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure. It also saw EGOT Menken earn his 19th Oscar nomination for the song I See the Light. The House of Mouse confirmed in December that a live action film had been greenlit, helmed by Greatest Showman and Better Man director Michael Gracey. While Menken - who is set to perform his first ever UK solo shows at the London Palladium next month - says they are 'just at the starting gate', he told The Standard in a rare interview that he's 'excited' for what's to come. Speculation online has seen Florence Pugh a frontrunner for the role of Rapunzel, while Kathryn Hahn is a fan-favourite pick to star as Mother Gothel. 'I'm not going to even… It's way too early and it's a director's medium,' Menken deflects. 'I will definitely defer to others to say, but what's great is when you go to a new medium you have a new team and all kinds of new aspects are being explored which is really exciting.' He also confirmed reports from last year that he's working on a stage musical of Tangled, but caveats it with there are 'no firm plans except completing a version for licensing'. Adding: 'No one should speculate on anything beyond that.' Menken previously helped to develop a short Tangled live show for Disney Cruise Lines in 2015. This included three new songs written for the show by himself and Glenn Slater – Flower of Gold, When She Returns, and Wanted Man. While Menken won't elaborate on what could make it to the big screen or future stage productions, he does say a cameo by original Rapunzel voice actress Moore in the new film wouldn't be out of the question, ala Jodie Benson in the Little Mermaid live action movie. There was a lovely scene in the 2023 film that saw Benson, who voiced Ariel in the 1989 animation, hand a fork or 'Dinglehopper' over to her live action counterpart played by Halle Bailey. Menken also cited how much he enjoyed Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel's 'lovely cameos' in last year's Wicked movie after they originated the roles of Glinda and Elphaba on Broadway. Fans will be hoping to gleam some more when Menken takes to the stage in the capital for two shows on March 9 - a matinee and an evening performance - which will delve into his storied career, spanning more than 40 years, They promise to be an unforgetable experience with the New York-native touching on his time before and at the centre of the Disney Renaissance (Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, etc) and beyond, with his other current projects including musicals of Night At The Museum, Animal Farm and Nancy Drew. Plus, two Disney musicals make their highly-anticipated West End debut this summer with Hercules opening at Threatre Royal Drury Lane in June and two performances of a specially staged concert of Hunchback of Notre Dame at the Prince Edward Theatre on August 17. For more information and to buy tickets to see A Whole New World of Alan Menken, visit
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Why ‘Emilia Perez' and ‘Wicked' Were Nominated for Original Score
Two musicals are among the five Oscar nominees for best original score. But what's really being honored in that category? The songs, the background score, or the entirety of the music in the film? It's a question that has plagued Oscar voters for many years. Four of Alan Menken's eight Oscars are for 'original score,' all for Disney animated musicals. But did voters understand that they were not voting for Menken's songs—which dominated films like 'The Little Mermaid' and 'Beauty and the Beast'—but rather the dramatic music between the vocals? More from Variety L.A. Fire Relief Benefit Concert Staged by Film Composers to Benefit Musicians Who've Lost Their Homes 'Wicked' Director Jon M. Chu Jokes 'I'm Gonna Win That Oscar' After Academy Snub in Stunned Acceptance Speech at Critics' Choice Cynthia Erivo Denies Speaking With Academy About Performing 'Wicked' Songs at the Oscars: 'I Don't Know Why We Would Be Doing That' That's the case again this year, with original-score nods for both 'Emilia Perez' and 'Wicked.' 'Perez' was also nominated for two of its original songs ('El Mal' and 'Mi Camino'), while 'Wicked' was not, because all of its songs are directly from the Broadway show and were not written specifically for the movie. In the past, dramatic underscore in musicals was often disqualified under Oscar rules ('a score shall not be eligible if it has been diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs'). But in recent years the Academy music branch executive committee, which rules on these issues, has been more forgiving. Both 'Wicked' and 'Emilia Perez' passed muster, partly because of the sheer quantities of music involved. In fact, only 33% of the total two hours and 32 minutes of music in 'Wicked' consists of the songs performed. The other 67% (approximately 101 minutes) is the dramatic score, a collaboration between songwriter Stephen Schwartz and composer John Powell ('How to Train Your Dragon'), both nominees. Creating the 'Wicked' score, Powell says, involved 'trying to absorb the shapes, the harmonic language, that Stephen was giving me, but then trying to see through the camera lens and (director) Jon Chu's perspective so that it always felt like it came from the same place, but for this new way of looking at the story.' To achieve the magical sound of Oz, they recorded a 60-voice choir at L.A.'s Sony scoring stage, which was once the MGM stage where the original 'Wizard of Oz' score was recorded in 1939. 'That language is part of the history of this storytelling, and Jon really wanted to keep that,' Powell reports. The percentages in 'Emilia Perez' are different, in part because there are 11 songs in 'Wicked' but 14 original numbers, totaling 40 minutes, in 'Perez.' The songs account for 40% of the total music in 'Perez,' compared to the underscore, which accounts for 37% of the total (the other 23% is additional music or source music not by the nominated composers). The score percentage was just enough to qualify under Oscar rules, which demand a minimum of 35% of the total music in the film. Intriguingly, the 'Emilia Perez' score also relies heavily on vocal sounds, many of them performed by Camille, half of the nominated songwriting and score-composing duo of Camille and Clément Ducol. 'It's me as a choir, which I do a lot in my work,' she says. 'Jacques (Audiard, the director) was a little worried that it would be too much me, because in France people know me and maybe they would recognize the voice. But I've been (immersed) in the story for many years and I knew what was at stake. It's something you feel.' The breaths that are audible on the soundtrack are also hers; in addition, a Mexican choir is featured. 'It was probably the most challenging project of our lives,' adds Camille. 'We needed to be patient, to be brave. We knew that we were doing something that doesn't happen every day.' Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Grammy Predictions, From Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar: Who Will Win? Who Should Win? What's Coming to Netflix in February 2025
