featured Maury Yeston and Alan Menken, both playing their piano accompaniment and singing songs they have written for potential musicals." Wilson reviewed a performance at the Ballroom in 1977 where Menken accompanied a singer: "In the current cabaret world, a piano accompanist is no longer expected to merely play piano for a singer. In 1976, John Wilson reported for The New York Times that members of Engel's BMI Workshop began performing as part of the "Broadway at the Ballroom" series: "The opening workshop program. He performed his material at clubs like The Ballroom, Reno Sweeny and Tramps. Īccording to Menken, during this period, he "worked as a ballet and modern dance accompanist, a musical director for club acts, a jingle writer, arranger, a songwriter for Sesame Street and a vocal coach". From 1974 to 1978, he showcased various BMI workshop works, such as Midnight, Apartment House (lyric by Muriel Robinson), Conversations with Pierre, Harry the Rat and Messiah on Mott Street (lyrics by David Zippel). (BMI) Musical Theatre Workshop and was mentored by Lehman Engel. His interest in writing musicals increased when he joined the Broadcast Music, Inc. Career Early career Īfter graduating, Menken's plan was to become either a rock star or a recording artist. A lot of guitar songs – I was composing on piano before that." After college, he attended the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. under Lehman Engel, and walked into a room with other composers that I knew this was it." Menken noted that "Before college, I was writing songs to further my dream of being the next Bob Dylan. Finally, I got a degree in music, but I didn't care about musicology. He graduated with a degree in Musicology in 1971 from the university's Steinhardt School. Menken remembers: "I'd make up my own Bach fugues and Beethoven sonatas because I was bored with the piano and I didn't want to practice so I'd go off on tangents". He attended New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, New York, and graduated in 1967. At age nine, at the New York Federation of Music Clubs Junior Composers Contest, his original composition "Bouree" was rated Superior and Excellent by the judges. Menken developed an interest in music at an early age, taking piano and violin lessons. His father was a boogie-woogie piano-playing dentist, and his mother was an actress, dancer and playwright. Īlan Irwin Menken was born on July 22, 1949, at French Hospital in Manhattan, to Judith and Norman Menken. Menken is one of sixteen people to have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony. He has also won 11 Grammy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award among many other honors. With eight Academy Award wins, Menken is the second most prolific Oscar winner in the music categories after Alfred Newman, who has 9 Oscars. Menken has collaborated with such lyricists as Lynn Ahrens, Howard Ashman, Jack Feldman, Tim Rice, Glenn Slater, Stephen Schwartz, and David Zippel. Some of these are based on his Disney films, but other stage hits include Little Shop of Horrors (1982), A Christmas Carol (1994), and Sister Act (2009). He is also known for his work in musical theater for Broadway and elsewhere. His accolades include eight Academy Awards, a Tony Award, eleven Grammy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and a Daytime Emmy Award. He also composed the scores and songs for Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Newsies (1992), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Home on the Range (2004), Enchanted (2007), and Tangled (2010), among others. His scores and songs for The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Pocahontas (1995) have each won him two Academy Awards. Menken is best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, songwriter, conductor, music director and record producer.