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Alan Menken Knows He Wrote the ‘Soundtrack to Your Childhood’
Legendary composer Alan Menken looks back on his career spanning five decades, from Disney's "The Little Mermaid" to "Tangled."
To appease them, Menken joined the BMI musical theater workshop with famed composer Lehman Engel, all while writing songs for “Sesame Street” and catchy jingles to make ends meet. While the 1989 Hans Christian Andersen adaptation doesn’t outwardly resemble the morbidly humorous “Little Shop,” Menken says the musicals are actually spiritual sisters: Ariel longs for life on land the same way Audrey and Seymour dream of a world away from the mean streets of Skid Row. In the 2023 “Little Mermaid” iteration with Halle Bailey, her crustacean pal Sebastian sings some updated lines by Lin-Manuel Miranda during “Kiss the Girl” to ensure audiences don’t feel Prince Eric is forcing himself on Ariel.
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