Alan Menken: The Man Behind Disney's Biggest Musical Hits

The magical legacy of the music from the Disney Renaissance.

For many children, no matter when they were born or where they grew up, the animated films of The Walt Disney Company played a huge role in their childhoods. Whether they grew up alongside older movies like Cinderella and Pinocchio or more recent ones like Frozen and Encanto, they are captivated by the lively characters, stunning colors, and compelling plots.

And, most importantly, the catchy songs.

Ever since the first animated Disney film—Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs—was released in 1937, music has long remained an integral part of the magic of Disney. Arguably some of the most memorable tunes came from an era known as the Disney Renaissance, which lasted from 1989 to 1999, and featured iconic movies like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King.

But most audiences who leave humming the songs from Disney movies are often unaware of the composers behind them. In today’s article, we’re exploring the legacy of Alan Menken, a composer who was largely responsible for the success of the Disney Renaissance and impacted the animated musical film genre for years to come.

Menken’s backstory:

Even before he was writing songs for Disney, Menken has always been inspired and influenced by Disney films, citing a 1956 theatrical re-release of the 1940 Disney film Fantasia as a pivotal point in his perspective on music. He stated in a 2019 interview:

I was 7 years old at the time and already a bit obsessed with the classics, like the symphonies of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. But experiencing the merging of amazing symphonic music with incredible Disney animation forever changed me. From that point forward, music became indistinguishable from storytelling.

Along with the influence of the music his family listened to at home—Broadway show tunes and cast albums—Menken would eventually be driven to compose music, stating that he “thought of composing as a calling.”

After graduating with a degree in musicology from New York University in 1971, Menken would work various different jobs, including as a dance accompanist, a musical director for club acts, and a jingle writer. Eventually, he met future collaborator Howard Ashman—a playwright—and together they wrote the 1982 musical Little Shop of Horrors. Inspired by the 1960 horror-comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, the musical would go on to set the box-office record for the highest-grossing Off-Broadway show of all time and play successful revivals in both national and regional theatres.

Menken’s beginnings with Disney:

Thanks to the success of Little Shop of Horrors, producers at the Walt Disney Studios hired both Menken and Ashman to compose the music for the film The Little Mermaid, which was in production. At the time, Disney’s animated films had been sufficiently profitable, but they were not regarded as true classics like Peter Pan or Sleeping Beauty. He recalls the negative atmosphere surrounding animated musicals when he first worked at the studio: "I can't tell you how many people said to me: ‘Ugh, man, take a powder. Nobody takes animated musicals seriously.’"

So for Disney—and especially Menken and Ashman—the pressure was on: they had to create an animated musical film that would stand the test of time and hold its own among the classics, with an iconic soundtrack to boot.

As Broadway composers, Menken and Ashman were largely influenced by musical theatre when writing the soundtrack to The Little Mermaid. Songs would be written to advance the plot and develop characters, providing a way for the audience to understand their motivations, hopes, and desires.

One of the film’s most impactful songs, “Part of Your World,” sung by the protagonist Ariel was regarded by Menken as a moment that changed the soundtracks of Disney films to come. He stated:

“There had never really been an ‘I want’ number before in a Disney film. Subsequently everybody at Disney would ask, ‘Where’s our “I want” moment?!’ But it’s that important moment where you engage the audience in the quest of the central character so you know what you’re rooting for.”

When the film was released in 1989, it saved the studio from the dark age it had been going through and rekindled the appeal of animated musical films. The soundtrack, which contained other songs like “Under the Sea” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls” received extensive praise from critics and audiences alike and the film instantly became a Disney classic.

With The Little Mermaid, Menken, Ashman, and the Walt Disney Studios had successfully achieved their goal, marking the beginning of a string of films that would experience similar success.

Menken and the Disney Renaissance:

After the success of The Little Mermaid, Disney would hire Menken and Ashman to write songs for their two upcoming animated films: Beauty and the Beast in 1991 and Aladdin in 1992. The idea of an “I want” song Menken had referred to when talking about “Part of Your World” was further developed with songs like “One Jump Ahead (reprise)” while the influence of Broadway was still present in musical numbers like “Be Our Guest.”

By the mid-1990s, Disney was the undisputed champion of animated musical films. Menken would continue to work on Disney films like Pocahontas and Hercules, while other composers—including Stephen Schwartz, Matthew Wilder, and Elton John—would follow in Menken’s footsteps as composers of Disney films.

Even other studios were jumping on the animated musical bandwagon: Warner Bros. released Thumbelina in 1994, while 20th Century Fox would release Anastasia in 1997. Both were Disney-esque movies involving composers like Barry Manilow, Lynn Ahrens, and Stephen Flaherty.

And just like Ariel, Thumbelina and Anastasia had their own “I want” songs, too.

The legacy of Menken’s Disney films:

By 1999, the Disney Renaissance was approaching its end. Although animated musicals were still successful, they were beginning to get overshadowed by brand-new, all-CGI films like Toy Story and A Bug’s Life. The 2001 release of Dreamworks’ Shrek—which contained many jabs at the films of the Disney Animated Canon—would firmly end Disney’s stream of successful animated musicals.

But not all was lost. In 2009, the animated musical returned yet again in the Disney film The Princess and the Frog, which kickstarted a stream of successful films similar to The Little Mermaid in 1989. Like the Renaissance films years prior, the studio once again appointed notable musical theatre composers—Kristen-Anderson Lopez, Robert Lopez, and Lin-Manuel Miranda—to write songs for films like Frozen, Moana, and Encanto. The emblematic “I want” songs returned to the box office, and Disney movies were once again quality family films that both children and adults could enjoy.

Nowadays, Menken works on reworking some of his most beloved animated Disney soundtracks for their respective live-action remakes—Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and the highly-anticipated The Little Mermaid, allowing for both a new audience to discover his songs while providing a nostalgic reimagining for the generations who grew up on the original films.

In the end, Menken ushered in a new era for animated musical films, with his songs forever remaining a part of many childhoods around the world.