San Francisco, July 24, 2020—The Walt Disney Family Museum is delighted to host Oscar®-, Grammy®-, Tony®-, and Golden Globe®-winning composer and songwriter Alan Menken for an intimate evening of music and storytelling. Streamed live on Thursday, August 6th, this special event will be presented in two parts—a paid fundraising program followed by a free musical performance.
The evening will begin at 5pm PT with a VIP chat, <em>Up Close and Personal with Alan Menken</em>. Menken and his longtime friend and collaborator, music producer Chris Montan, will discuss the milestones and achievements of Menken’s inspiring career. Tickets start at $200 with tiered ticket and sponsorship options and the opportunity to submit questions for Menken, as well as receive exclusive, signed Disney artwork.
At 5:30pm PT directly following the program, tune in to a free performance by Menken, showcasing some of his legendary Disney songs, “Under the Sea,” “A Whole New World,” and “Be Our Guest,” and other celebrated classics from his films and Broadway musicals. During the live performance, Menken will be joined by his friend and acclaimed composer and actor, Lin-Manuel Miranda, with whom he is currently writing new music for a liveaction reimagining of <em>The Little Mermaid</em>.
Event proceeds support The Walt Disney Family Museum's education programs, which provide arts and animation instruction to the next generation of creative talent. The proceeds will also support the museum's initiatives to provide educational opportunities to the Bay Area’s underserved young people, including its newest initiative, the At-Promise Youth Animation Academy, an intensive animation-focused jobs-training program for local high school students experiencing economic and social displacement.
To purchase tickets for the <em>Up Close and Personal with Alan Menken</em> VIP chat and to register for Menken’s free virtual performance, please visit waltdisney.org/menken.
ABOUT ALAN MENKEN
Alan Menken’s music, songs, and scores have become an integral part of the fabric of our lives since his first works were produced nearly 40 years ago. His stage musicals include God Bless You Mr. Rosewater (1979), Atina: Evil Queen of the Galaxy (1980), Real Life Funnies (1981), The Dream on Royal Street (1981), Little Shop of Horrors (1982), Kicks (1984), Weird Romance (1992), Beauty and The Beast (1994), A Christmas Carol (1994), King David (1997), The Little Mermaid (2008), Sister Act (2009), Newsies (2011), Aladdin (2011), Leap of Faith (2012), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2014), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (2015), A Bronx Tale (2016), and Hercules (2019).
Song and score credits for film musicals include The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and The Beast (Animated, 1991), Newsies (1992), Aladdin (Animated, 1992), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Home on the Range (2004), The Shaggy Dog (2006), Enchanted (2007), Tangled (2010), Mirror Mirror (2012), Beauty and the Beast (Live Action, 2017), Howard (2018), and Aladdin (Live Action, 2019).
Individual songs for film include Rocky V – “The Measure of a Man” (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – “My Christmas Tree” (1992), Life With Mikey – “Cold Enough to Snow” (1993), Noel – “Winter Light” (2004), Captain America: The First Avenger – “Star Spangled Man” (2011), and Sausage Party – “The Great Beyond” (2016). Television credits include writing songs for Sesame Street (1989–90), the ABC mini-series Lincoln (1992), a musical episode of The Neighbors (2013), the ABC series Galavant (2015-16), and the Disney Channel’s Tangled: The Series (2017).
His chart-topping songs have included “Beauty and the Beast” (1991), “A Whole New World” (1992), “Colors of the Wind” (1995), and “Go the Distance” (1997). Winner of the 2012 Tony and Drama Desk awards for his score for Newsies, he has won more Academy Awards® than any other living individual, including eight Oscars® with four for Best Score and four for Best Song; 11 Grammy® Awards (including Song of the Year for “A Whole New World”); seven Golden Globes; London’s Evening Standard Award; the Olivier Award; the Outer Critics Circle Award; and the Drama Desk Award.
Other notable achievements include reaching Billboard’s number one single for “A Whole New World” and number one album for Pocahontas; his 2008 induction as a Member in the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, followed by receiving a lifetime achievement acknowledgement of the Johnny Mercer Award in 2017. In 2001, he received the distinction of being named a Disney Legend. As well as being awarded two doctorates in Fine Arts from New York University and the North Carolina School of the Arts, he also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010.
ABOUT THE AT-PROMISE YOUTH ANIMATION ACADEMY
The vision for the At-Promise Youth Animation Academy is built on Walt Disney’s inspiring story of overcoming adversity, his legacy of fostering the next generation of creative talent, and the museum’s own commitment to community outreach. This unique jobs-training program will be designed for young people experiencing economic and social displacement, providing them with comprehensive training in art, animation, storytelling, and other disciplines. In addition to helping dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, disproportionately experienced by young people of color and prevalent in under-resourced communities, the Academy will strive to diversify the employee ranks in the animation and film industries.
The At-Promise Youth Animation Academy will also seek to provide a nurturing educational environment in which students not only learn animation skills that can set them on a career path in a creative industry, but also the importance of perseverance, problem-solving, collaboration, and conflict resolution.