Auditorium Theatre 2018-19 Issue 3 Alvin Ailey

March 6 - March 30, 2019 | AUDITORIUM THEATRE 2018-19 | 17 A Whole New World: An Interview with Alan Menken The legendary songwriter Alan Menken comes to Chicago for a one-night-only performance at the Auditorium Theatre on Saturday, March 30. In his one-man show A Whole New World of Alan Menken , the creator behind songs like “Under the Sea” ( The Little Mermaid ), “Somewhere That’s Green” ( Little Shop of Horrors ), “A Whole New World” ( Aladdin ), and “Be Our Guest” ( Beauty and the Beast ) performs some of these beloved songs and tells stories from throughout his expansive career. Menken was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to chat with the Auditorium about his beginnings as a composer, his creative process, and the dišerences between writing songs for animated films versus live-action movies. Auditorium Theatre (AUD) : How did you start your songwriting and composing career? Alan Menken (AM) : I often cite watching Fantasia , when it was re-released in 1956, as a pivotal point in my perspective about music. 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. And, if you add to that the fact that I grew up in a family that constantly played original cast albums from Broadway shows or sang show tunes and standards, it was inevitable that my love of music would seek out lyrics to feel complete. AUD : When did you know that you wanted to write music for a living? AM : As soon as I realized that there was literally nothing else that could supersede my desire to compose music, I dreaded the idea of making my living doing anything that would take me away from that. Consequently, I determined that I would rather starve than compromise what was clearly my destiny. I thought of composing as a calling, like the priesthood or embarking on some noble quest. Very romantic notion, I know. But, for me, that’s the only way I could take my chosen journey. AUD : When you’re writing music for a film or musical, what is the creative process like? AM : The process of writing music is just like writing words or designing a house or cooking a meal. I ask myself a series of very pivotal questions before I allow my hands to touch the piano or music paper. What is the assignment I’m giving myself? What is the medium, the story, the characters, the time and the place? What stylistic vocabulary will best support what needs to be expressed? What choice of musical vocabulary will make this a totally unique experience for the listener? Once I’ve been able to answer these questions on both a rational and a gut level, I start playing with ideas. And I find it incredibly helpful to be working in collaboration with another artist — a lyricist or a book writer or a director or a producer. It’s all about communication. Does an audience “get it”? If all the above are satisfied, then I know I’m probably creating the DNA of something that will live and breathe and thrive. FRAZIER HARRISON Alan Menken performing A Whole New World of Alan Menken.