Alan Menken came out on stage to thunderous applause and proceeded to tell the story of his life punctuated with playing and singing songs from all of his hit shows.  He told about growing up in a family of dentists.  His father was a dentist and so were his uncles and most of his cousins.  It was assumed that he would also grow up to become a dentist.  He said he was ADHD and did not have the patience for studying or even practicing piano.  He loved music, but just didn't want to practice other composer's music.  He spent his practice time making up his own songs.  He went to New York City as a Pre-Med student, but quickly realized that he needed to do something else.  He wondered if he could make a career out of writing songs.

      So he did whatever he could with music to make a living - accompanying for dance classes, singers, nightclub acts, etc. - all while writing songs and trying to figure out how to get them heard. He had some success writing jingles for TV and radio.  He got the chance to write some songs for "Sesame Street."  Fortunately, he connected with lyricist Howard Ashman and together they wrote a few off-Broadway shows.  After "Little Shop of Horrors" got some notice, Ashman contacted Disney about writing the songs for "The Little Mermaid."  We all know what happened next - the trajectory of Musical Theater changed!

     During the late 1960's through the 1970's, Broadway was dying.  There were very few box office successes on Broadway.  Many of the theaters were closing due to lack of business and the businesses were turning into seedy bars and tattoo shops.  Once Disney decided to buy a theater on Broadway and start producing shows there, the future for Broadway perked up.  Other mighty shows such as "Les Miserables" and "Phantom of the Opera" also came in and improved the landscape on 42 Street.  Alan Menken has had many shows featuring his music on Broadway.  Many of his movies (his "babies"), even the ones that were declared box office flops, got a second life on the Broadway stage.  "Beauty and the Beast," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin," "Newsies," and others all started as movies, and are now full-fledged theatrical pieces.  They are performed live all over the world by professional companies, community theaters, and even school and children's theater groups.

      He said that he is often asked "What is the secret to writing memorable songs?"

        The first time I went to see Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" - the animated film - I was so disappointed.  Not that the film was not beautifully drawn or that the characters were not engaging or that the music was not wonderful.  I was disappointed because the main character did not get her own solo song or "aria."  I wanted Belle to have a solo like Ariel got to sing in "The Little Mermaid."  Every other Disney princess had their own song, why not Belle?  My own voice students plus every girl that I accompanied for at auditions, it seemed, wanted to sing the latest Disney princess song.  That's what made the animated movie a bit of a disappointment.

             Well, apparently, that was not the original vision from the composers Alan Menken  and Howard Ashman, either. As I heard them say in an interview once, they said that at the time (1991) that Animation was the last best place to write Musical Theater.  In fact, they wrote "stage musicals for film."  As a team, Menken and Ashman were based on Broadway.  Yet they were tapped by Disney to write for the animated movies.  But still, their concepts and ideas were firmly rooted in stage theatricals. A cardinal rule for stage musicals is to give the main character a solo song at a point in the first act where the audience gets to hear the character's thoughts and emotions. This allows the audience a chance to learn to care for that character.  And that was exactly what was missing in the movie!  But animated Disney films had to stick to a finite, short length, so no solo song for Belle.

               Gladly, the stage show was later produced on Broadway and opened with more songs that explored the characters in depth and explained a lot of things.  All in all, it is a much more satisfying bit of storytelling.  The expanded version of "Beauty and the Beast" has solo songs for Belle, Beast and Gaston that give motivation and development to those characters.  And the servant's song "Human Again" explains a lot about the enchanted knick-knack characters that is never explained in the movie version.  Much, much improved storytelling!

                I recently saw Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" performed in theater-in-the-round.  This was done in an extremely tiny theater with a very small cast, but oh, how imaginatively produced.  It was exceptional!  So colorful and delightful!  I was worried that I would miss the lavishness of seeing a full Broadway show done on a large stage with that special Disney "magic."  Well, I am happy to say that the show is so well-written, that I did not miss the hugeness of other productions.  This show was done in an intimate style and relied on the few actor's superb characterizations and wonderful use of imaginative costuming instead of large sets, pyrotechnics and overwhelming numbers of cast members.  All in all, it was back to basics, but great use of those essentials.  I loved that show!  The stage production of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast"  (in most any production) is by far a more satisfying experience in storytelling than the animated movie.

          Here I am back from tour and wondering if it was all a dream.  We performed in many wonderful venues, visited many interesting places in New York, Washington D.C. and Boston, and stayed in the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square for 9 nights.  Pretty fabulous, indeed.

          One very neat thing we did was to go see the new musical "Finding Neverland" on Broadway.  This is a stage adaptation of the movie about how playwright James M. Barrie came to write the classic children's play "Peter Pan."  I knew the story already from seeing the movie featuring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet.  But now, after seeing the stage play, I can wholeheartedly say, the musical is so much richer!  The addition of music and stage magic makes the story so incredibly moving!  We were privileged to see the original cast still in the first run performance.  It was great!  The actors were all very good, but Kelsey Grammar really stole the show.  He was great and his part was so much fun!  All in all, the production was full of high energy and surprises throughout!

          I was most curious about how they managed the stage magic.  One song, in particular, was so beautifully staged.  While the character of Sylvia was singing outside of her row house in the moonlight, we were transported through time and space to London in the early 1900's.  Then I started realizing that the clouds in the sky were going across the moon.  The song was nice, but I was mesmerized by the effect of that sky.  I think they must have had several scrims with different images and movies being projected onto them.  It was mind boggling.

          The part Kelsey Grammer played was the most pivotal and entertaining in the entire show.  He played the over-bearing Theater impresario that "owned" James Barrie.  He was always pressing James to create the next project.  As he used phrases such as "Time is ticking, James...tick...tock...tick tock" or waved his crooked walking stick the shadows on the scenery behind him projected images of clocks or Pirate hooks, thus helping the audience understand that this is where James Barrie got the inspiration for the character of Captain Hook.  Foreshadowing in the most entertaining way ever!

          The magic was spectacular!  So many beautiful effects such as flying, and Pirate shenanigans, and of pixie dust making everything sparkle.  What a delightful production.  Once again I am jealous of what can happen when creative people are given great leeway with healthy budgets!  

While on the East States Tour with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, we will be able to spend some time in New York City.  One of the extra activities I opted to do in my spare time is take in a Broadway show.  A group of us from the choir will be going to see Disney's "Aladdin."  I have been to Disney World and Disneyland and seen all of the movies, and some of the stage productions. I have even directed some of the Disney Junior shows (including "Aladdin, Jr."), but I still marvel at Disney 'magic."  I really want to know how they accomplish the magical effects.                 


                   But, as I have been told before --- it's Disney MAGIC!

A friend sent a link to a Back Stage Pass video about the stage show "Aladdin,"  
https://youtu.be/B2QkcGcnpB8 and I got excited.  Maybe they would reveal some of the "how to's" to accomplish this Disney MAGIC.  But no -- it's still Disney Magic!  Although they did give close up glimpses of the costumes and some of the contraptions under the stage.  My daughter was once a performer at Disney World.  She said that the performers sign a contract that they will never reveal the Disney "Magic" or even who they portray or where they will be at any time in the Park.  Guess that is still in effect.

One of the lead characters in the "Parizade's Quest" cast, Lili Wilson, who was Parizade, asked me if I did children's theater when I was young.  I told her that I did.  She asked if I ever wrote scripts and shows when I was young.  I told her that I did.  Then she proceeded to tell me that she was writing a show for her 4th grade class to present to the school. She was a bit frustrated that the other children did not always follow her directions even though she had spent so much time and effort preparing the script and getting the costumes ready all by herself.  I told her that directing a cast of your peers is difficult, but to keep trying and they will eventually come around.

Have you ever really considered the power of happy songs?  This past weekend, I sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Day Concerts with guest artist Santino Fontana.  All of the songs we sang were upbeat and optimistic.  The camera guys often picked up the expressions of the audience members.  Their faces reflected the wonder and fun of the music being presented.  And seriously, how can you refrain from smiling when you hear and see the choir singing "Whistle While You Work" or "Put on a Happy Face?"  And the audience went wild with applause and yells and whistles when we joined Santino in singing our version of Pharrell Williams "Happy."  Check out this terrific concert on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir website:

A Summer Celebration of Song 2014

          I am constantly amazed at how a simple song can uplift the spirits and soothe the soul.  Last week, I had some of the concert music playing round and around in my head.  I found myself singing it unconsciously.  It just made my heart happy, even though there was a lot of emotional heaviness in my life that could have potentially weighed me down.  Those little light-hearted melodies of "She Likes Basketball" and "Ten Minutes Ago" and "Happy" kept playing over and over like a broken record stuck in one groove.  But I really didn't mind.  It lifted my spirits and sustained me through a rough week.
          When you look around and notice the tragic and awful things happening in the world, or when you turn on the radio or television, you are bombarded with news of disasters and human suffering.  There seems to be nothing you can do to ease the suffering or change the trajectory of what the bad guys are going to do.  But there really is something you can do.  You can sing:
 
       Spread sunshine all over the place -- just put on a happy face.  

          It is a little thing, but speaks volumes.  A smile and a song.  There you have it.  There is a lot of power packed into a happy song delivered with a happy face!

He regretted that his early success with "A Chorus Line" when he was just 29 years old was not repeated over and over again.  His collaborators on that project died soon afterwards and were not around to collaborate on any future projects.  Hamlisch never found quite the same team to work with ever again.  Still, he went on to garner three Oscars, four Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Tony Award as well as a Pulitzer Prize.  He was one of just eleven other artists to earn awards in all four categories (EGOT).

 His great love was Broadway music.  In the early 1970's, Broadway was dying. With the success of "A Chorus Line," Hamlisch was part of the resurgence of the Broadway Musical.  That show led the way.  The public wanted to see more shows with quality music and appealing stories.  Broadway shows became popular again and the area was cleaned up.  In fact many theaters even started catering to families with children.  Producers learned that they had better "grow their audience" by making shows accessible to the future generations.  Marvin Hamlisch spent his later years devoting himself to making sure that the great music of the Broadway stage was not forgotten.  As the Pops conductor of eight different concert orchestras around the country, he promoted the works of greats such as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe, Frank Loesser and others.  He made great contributions to our collective memory of our American Songbook comprised of the best of the great Broadway and Pop composers, old and new.