Transcript Alan Menken*s spin on Sondheim*s Music

“A WHOLE NEW WORLD”
OF MUSICALS FROM
SONDHEIM TO MENKEN
Savara Gunn
Alan Menken: Background
■ Born in New York City
■ Started out as an accompanist
■ Moved up to a Broadway composer
■ Was approached by Disney to write the music for The Little
Mermaid
■ Tangled vs. Into the Woods
Little Shop- Distracting Music
■ “Feed Me (Git It)”- Scene is of the Audrey II
convincing Seymour to kill people
■ “A lot of people deserve to die”
■ Acceptable for wider audiences because
Audrey II is a plant
■ “Now (It’s Just the Gas)”- Seymour letting
the Dentist die
■ Soothing tempo that mirrors “A Little
Priest”
Little Shop- Unintelligent Women
■ “Suddenly Seymour” and “Somewhere
That’s Green” (Audrey Songs)
■ Slow and typical Broadway ballads
■ Resemble ”Lovely” from A Funny Thing and
“Losing my Mind” from Follies
■ Type of music signify unintelligent or naïve
women
Little Shop- Power Struggles
■ Menken also uses tempos to display
characters in power
■ ”Feed Me”– Audrey II is more powerful than
Seymour so he sings at a faster tempo
■ “Now (It’s Just the Gas)”- Seymour has more
power over the Dentist and sings faster than
him
Hunchback of Notre Dame- Anxiety/Corruptness
■ “Bells of Notre Dame”
■ Clanging of bells interrupt melodic choir
■ Music constantly switches from calm to
aggressive
■ Initiates anxiety in audience
■ Indicates corruptness in the setting of
the show
Hunchback- Immorality
■ “Hellfire” vs “Johanna”
■ Sweet instruments (violin) switch to harsh ones
(trumpet)
■ Latin phrases “Mea Culpa, mea maxima culpa”
■ Also switches tempos to amplify immorality
■ Same melody as “Bells of Notre Dame”
■ Choir sings threatening & uses harmonies to
diminish intimidation
Works Cited
■
"Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz Talk Hunchback of Notre Dame." Interview by Jimmy Carter. Youtube.com. Jimmy Carter, 23 Dec. 2015.
Web.
■
Hunchback of Notre Dame (Motion Picture: 1996)--electronic Press Kit. Home Video Release. 1996. Videocassette.
■
"Little Shop." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.
■
Menken, Alan, and Howard Ashman. Little Shop of Horrors: A New Musical. Garden City, NY: N. Doubleday, 1982. Print.
■
Menken, Alan, and Stephen Schwartz. The Hunchback of Notre Dame: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack. Walt Disney Records,
1996. CD.
■
Schlesinger, Judith. "Psychology, Evil and Sweeney Todd." Stephen Sondheim: A Casebook: 125-41.
■
Sondheim, Stephen, and George Furth. Company. Radnor, PA: Chilton Book, 1973. Print.
■
Sondheim, Stephen, and James Goldman. Follies: A Musical. New York: Random House, 1971. Print.
■
Sondheim, Stephen, and James Lapine. Into the Woods. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1989. Print.
■
Sondheim, Stephen, Burt Shevelove, and Larry Gelbart. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. London: Frank Music, 1963.
Print.
■
Sondheim, Stephen, Hugh Wheeler, and C. G. Bond. Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street: A Musical Thriller. New York: Dodd,
Mead, 1979. Print.
■
Steyn, Mark. Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Musicals Then and Now. Routledge, 2014.
■
Tangled. Rotana, 2011. DVD.