Quotes About Alan Menken

Part of the job is knowing how to use this medium in the most effective way for the story you're telling, so for me, to pick a genre I want to do is a little harder. I would say it's more about thinking, 'What genre will work for what kind of story?' And then, when all of that comes, I embrace it and run with it.

I was always proud of the score to 'Newsies.' The movie is good, but it was under-budgeted.

Movies, you can insulate yourself more from audience, to a degree, and just look at box office. In theater, the audience is a very dynamic part of your process, and you feel much more exposed.

Everyone knows how physically demanding 'Newsies' is in terms of the dance, but even the guys in the toughest tracks remark that the singing in this show is often the hardest part. The newsboys are teenagers, and Alan Menken wrote this music in the top of a guy's range.

I'm not intimidated by embracing a familiar form and what's familiar about it and making it my own. It is, I think, one of my gifts.

My first success was 'Little Shop of Horrors,' and I had been working for years on jingles.

Growing up, I was obsessed with Disney movies like 'The Little Mermaid,' 'Aladdin' and 'Beauty And The Beast.' I was always singing the songs from these movies, so to find myself in the studio with Alan Menken was an amazing experience. In fact, it was a dream come true.