Alan Menken Biography

With Howard Ashman, Menken received the New York Drama Critics Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, and the London Evening Standard Award for Best Musical for Little Shop of Horrors and an Oscar® nomination for Best Song ("Mean Green Mother From Outer Space") from the film version of Little Shop of Horrors.

In 1983, the composer received the BMI Career Achievement Award for a body of work for the musical theater. His includes Little Shop of Horrors, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Real Life Funnies, Atina: Evil Queen of the Galaxy (produced in workshop as "Battle of the Giants"), "Patch, Patch, Patch," and contributions to numerous revues including Personals and Diamonds. In 1987, a musical adaptation of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, with lyrics by David Spencer, was produced in Philadelphia. In 1992, the WPA Theatre in New York produced Menken's Weird Romance, lyrics also by Spencer.

In December 1994, Menken debuted a brand-new stage musical based on the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and book by Mike Ockrent, at Madison Square Garden's Paramount Theater.

Future projects for the busy composer include the musical King David, with libretto by Tim Rice, and Kicks: The Showgirl Musical, with libretto by Tom Eyen. On Hercules, Disney's 35th full-length animated feature, the composer collaborated with lyricist David Zippel.

---Provided by Disney Records