Alan Menken

The award-winning author of countless classics for Hollywood and Broadway alike, Alan Menken is one of the most decorated stage and screen composers of all time. ∙ Menken’s breakthrough came in 1979, when playwright Howard Ashman enlisted him to write the music for a musical adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. ∙ With Ashman, he wrote the iconic musical Little Shop of Horrors, which opened in 1982, broke box-office records, and later spawned the Oscar-nominated film of the same name. ∙ Beginning with 1989’s The Little Mermaid, he contributed music to a series of high-profile animated films, including Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas. ∙ For his work on The Little Mermaid, Menken earned his first two Academy Awards and his first two Grammy Awards. ∙ His 1994 Beauty and the Beast Broadway musical ran for 13 years, and he has since brought Newsies, Sister Act, A Bronx Tale, and other films to the stage. ∙ With his 2020 Daytime Emmy win (for a song on Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure), he achieved the rare EGOT status, having won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards.