Alan Menken has built a career helping people express what they want.
And what they want, or at least what theyve been asking for lately, is Alan Menken.
We want rocky road, or we want pistachio… we want Menken.
Credit: Everett Collection
Ive been doing it to various degrees for quite a while now, Menken says.
Im not intimidated by embracing a familiar form and whats familiar about it and making it my own.
It is, I think, one of my gifts.
Marc Flores © 2018 Disney
Even, he says, if the familiar form is his own.
There are parts of it that are an intangible.
Ill give it to you.
Everett Collection
Menken doesnt begrudge any of the self-reflection.
(Its about a woman finding her voice, Marshall recently told EW.
A girl finding her voice, actually.
And that immediately just felt like an interesting, timely piece that resonated with us.)
I wrote [Frozencomposer] Bobby Lopezs recommendation letter for college!
And yet, Menken isnt ready to pass a torch.
Not at the moment, at least.
But to share the torch, yes, he confirms.
Its a thing that every writer goes through.
Can you imagine howactorsgo through it?
It would be magnified to the nth degree, when someone is the new so-and-so.
But youve got to get used to that, especially as a writer.
But its a balancing act Menken has accepted.
He hopes both may one day live again.
But Menken is stumped when asked what he hasnt had a chance to do yet.
I would say its more about thinking: What genre will work for what kind of story?
And then, when all of that comes, I embrace it and run with it.
So its a little strange, but I just add it to the genre that is Menken being Menken.
Its a genre that filmmakers request, but seem to have trouble putting their finger on to define.
But perhaps thats only because its creator isnt done defining it yet.
