Favorite Menken/Ashman musical score?

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What is your favorite musical score from the team of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman?

Poll ended at July 6th, 2005, 6:47 pm

The Little Mermaid
1
11%
Beauty and the Beast
5
56%
Aladdin
3
33%
 
Total votes: 9

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Post by Ben » September 11th, 2006, 6:57 pm

Well it was only a few lines overall, which is apparently better than having to sit through Fiddler On The Roof for three hours and hear him as Tevye:
http://www.broadway.com/gen/show.aspx?SI=32516

Actually in this interview (WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE), his inappropriate voice is questioned and the poor little lamb (yeah, right!) actually gets pretty upset!
http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/th ... index.html


SOME people! :)

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Post by ShyViolet » September 11th, 2006, 7:11 pm

Oh what a jerk! Get over yourself! :roll: :roll: :roll:

(OK, he did sing as "the sissy duckling" on HBO animated tales, and "grating" doesn't even begin to cover it. The poor little tikes who were subjected to that voice.... :? )

Rosie O'Donnell and Harvey Fierstein star in this beloved Broadway musical now through January 8.

This sounds....hideous. :shock:
Last edited by ShyViolet on November 27th, 2006, 9:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Wonderlicious » September 12th, 2006, 6:28 am

ShyViolet wrote:
Rosie O'Donnell and Harvey Fierstein star in this beloved Broadway musical now through January 8.

This sounds....hideous. :shock:
I've got to say that I felt the same when I read that.
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Post by ShyViolet » November 19th, 2006, 11:02 am

I wonder how the Frog Princess soundtrack would have been if Menken had stayed on it.

So what else is he doing again? Enchanted, Rupunzal and, what else....?
(plus is there any chance of the powers that be changing their mind and putting Menken back on TFP?)

It was so sad to see Howard Ashman on the Mermaid DVD and see how much he loved Disney. :cry:

I can't help wonder what Disney had been like had Howard Ashman not died.
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Post by Wonderlicious » November 19th, 2006, 11:57 am

ShyViolet wrote:I wonder how the Frog Princess soundtrack would have been if Menken had stayed on it.

So what else is he doing again? Enchanted, Rupunzal and, what else....?
(plus is there any chance of the powers that be changing their mind and putting Menken back on TFP?)
I don't believe that Rapunzel will feature songs/score by Alan Menken. I can't recall the name of the composer, though.

Alan Menken, in addition to Enchanted (which I think he'll be wrapping down with now, anyway), he's doing songs for stage musical versions of Sister Act and The Little Mermaid.

Hopefully, the folks at Diz-nee will be reading this and decide that they've been boobs by picking Randy Newman. Newman is okay, but Menken is better. And I really want Disney to do a full musical as opposed to the "a film with songs" a la Toy Story and Tarzan.
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Post by Meg » November 19th, 2006, 4:13 pm

I'm not complainging about who's writing the songs until I actually know what the stroy is about. For all we know Newman could be perfect.

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Post by Dacey » November 19th, 2006, 4:15 pm

Yeah. I think I kinda agree with Meg here.

I'm guessing Newman's not scoring "Ratahoweveryouspellit".
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Post by Meg » November 19th, 2006, 7:24 pm

Nope, Michael Giacchino is. Whoo!

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Post by ShyViolet » November 20th, 2006, 11:37 am

I'm not complainging about who's writing the songs until I actually know what the stroy is about.
Well, we do know it's a fairy tale, with a princess and falling in love, etc....

I'm sorry but I really don't see Newman as being a good fit for this. :roll:


OK, let's say this: can you imagine Newman writing a song like "Something there" or "Belle", or "Kiss the Girl"?? :wink: :roll:

Nope, Michael Giacchino is.

Finally, at least some good news.... :wink:
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Post by Groaning » November 20th, 2006, 12:26 pm

Wendy's Jane wrote:Yeah. I think I kinda agree with Meg here.

I'm guessing Newman's not scoring "Ratahoweveryouspellit".
This score is going to be sooo awesome. The Incredibles' score was - yeah - incredible. :D
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Post by Meg » November 20th, 2006, 5:03 pm

Well, we do know it's a fairy tale, with a princess and falling in love, etc....

I'm sorry but I really don't see Newman as being a good fit for this
Don't forget that rumor that it's going to take place in the South...if that's true, Newman might be the perfect fit. And I was never expecting this to be the average fairy tale movie - isn't the title a spin on the original, The Frog Prince?

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Post by ShyViolet » November 27th, 2006, 3:07 pm

OK, but other than the awesome songs in Ragtime (which were quite a number of years ago) what was the last love song that Randy Newman wrote? And not "love-between-a boy-and his doll" or "love between little girl and monster from another dimension" or "love of a town." I'm talking romantic, full-on love.

What has Newman ever written that proves he could do something like that?
And I was never expecting this to be the average fairy tale movie - isn't the title a spin on the original, The Frog Prince?


Hmmm....I thought the selection of Musker and Clements as directors WAS a signal that this was going to be a tradtional fairy tale, at least in execution. Also wasn't there a Russian fairy tale The Frog Princess, which this is based on?

Every fairy tale out there is a spin on another fairy tale or an older version. But that doesn't mean that an animated film adaptation can't adhere to the "classic" style of adapting fairy tales that has proved so popular in the past.

Disney's Cinderella changed many aspects from the French Charles Perrault version they based it on (Which in itself changed many aspects from the Grimm version, and so on and so forth) Snow White and the Seven Dwarves of 1937 changed LOTS of stuff from the original story (which exists in many forms) None of the Dwarfs had names in the original, and of course none of them sang....:) (Plus I'm pretty sure they weren't diamond miners either, although I could be wrong. :) )

But even with all the different versions, the classic love/romantic/prince/princess paradigm is much in demand. Bringing in Randy Newman and making it all jazzy and Southern (not that it wouldn't be good as a separate project) takes away from that. Another "modern spin" on a fairy tale--do we really need that? I hate to say it but what I'm hearing so far about this film makes me think that this will turn out less like Beauty and the Beast and more along the lines of....Hoodwinked or Shrek. (in premise not story or design/animation.)

I think that for now people have had their fill of irony and modernism, at least from the Disney corner. :roll: Sorry, but this sounds like more of the same to me.
Last edited by ShyViolet on November 27th, 2006, 9:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Ben » November 27th, 2006, 8:04 pm

Yeah, it doesn't even have any penguins in it...yet.

BTW, have you heard Randy Newman's "Faust":
http://www.amazon.com/Faust-Dlx-Randy-N ... F8&s=music

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Post by ShyViolet » November 27th, 2006, 9:34 pm

Yeah, it doesn't even have any penguins in it...yet.
OH G-d please, please, no more Penguins!!!!! :shock: :twisted: Is that too much to ask??? :roll:

(I can just see next year's "blockbuster" animated feature-in-waiting: Chilly Willy: The Movie! :roll: :P)
BTW, have you heard Randy Newman's "Faust":
Nope...was it any good? Is that based on the opera Faust? I've only read Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.

I'm guessing it's a modern, "jazzy" spin on the old Faust story?
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Post by ShyViolet » November 27th, 2006, 9:50 pm

And I really want Disney to do a full musical as opposed to the "a film with songs" a la Toy Story and Tarzan.
Yeah, you said it Wonder. :wink: :)
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