Menken has been replaced on the Mrs. Doubtfire musical.
Fox Stage Productions and producer Kevin McCollum have announced the creative team for Mrs. Doubtfire, which is headed by director Jerry Zaks, a four-time Tony Award winner. John O’Farrell and Karey Kirkpatrick, Tony nominees for their work on Something Rotten!, will write the book and Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick will handle music and lyrics.
Sotiris wrote:Menken has been replaced on the Mrs. Doubtfire musical.
Fox Stage Productions and producer Kevin McCollum have announced the creative team for Mrs. Doubtfire, which is headed by director Jerry Zaks, a four-time Tony Award winner. John O’Farrell and Karey Kirkpatrick, Tony nominees for their work on Something Rotten!, will write the book and Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick will handle music and lyrics.
That sucks. I was really looking forward to hearing what he'd do with that. Hopefully it's because he's working on Hercules or something new. He's definitely keeping busy.
A song written by Alan Menken and Tim Rice and performed by Alan Menken titled "The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever" has just been released online. The song was written 10 years ago for the Tyler Foundation and Shine On! Kids. The inspiration behind the song was Tim's dog of the same breed, named Eli. This is the first time the song has been made publicly available.
Thanks for sharing, Sotiris. It’s a fun song. I don’t agree with the lyrics, though. The best breed of dog is my dog’s breed, the Border Collie. Well, my dog is not 100% Border Collie, it's crossbred, but now seriously, is the most intelligent dog I've ever had. She does a lot of things that surprise me. For example, she knows how to open doors and I never taught her to do that.
I think something was definitely up with Lasseter and Alan. Supposed Alan is doing a princess song in Wreck-It Ralph 2, which is very likely from the stuff Sotiris posted in the other thread.
We all know that Alan was suddenly replaced by Newman for PATF when Lasseter took over and of course, how horribly he was treated during Tangled. No word from him again.
During the Lasseter reign, it was Kristin and Bobby Lopez who were writing a (deleted) song for the first Wreck-It Ralph. And now Lasseter is gone for good, Alan has suddenly returned to WDAS. Plus, it's no coincidence that Rich met Alan during John's "leave."
disneyprincess11 wrote:We all know that Alan was suddenly replaced by Newman for PATF when Lasseter took over and of course, how horribly he was treated during Tangled. No word from him again.
Don't forget he was also replaced on Frozen.
disneyprincess11 wrote:By the way: Who is Kos?
Rich is referring to Michael Kosarin who is a well-known music director, arranger, and conductor. He has worked on a lot of Disney projects over the years.
He wrote songs for a stage show that was planned, at one of the Tokyo parks I think. Eventually it was decided that there should be a Snow Queen movie before a Snow Queen musical so the project was cancelled and a film adaptation was greenlighted. Menken had one song written, "Love Can't Be Denied" before he was unceremoniously taken off the project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVADjGMBnMs
We’re a dyad in the Force. Two that are one. "I offered you my hand once. You wanted to take it." - Kylo Ren "I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand." - Rey
It never made sense to me replacing Menken right after Tangled, the success of which was the sole reason Frozen was put back into development. You'd think they'd want to keep the guy who contributed greatly to that success and proved he could still deliver with a CG movie that had contemporary sensibilities.
Yes, I remember Menken being attached to both The Frog Princess and The Snow Queen. I wish we'd got both with him, but at least Frozen turned out good. I wouldn't doubt if M&C asked for Menken the same way they asked for a 2D film to begin with (pre-Moana), and were turned down. Wasn't "Love Can't Be Denied" for The Snow Queen? EDIT: Sorry, didn't see you'd posted about that already, JGF.
Anyway, I don't consider that a false start because I don't believe the film was shut down for story problems, but because Disney was selling the "underperformed" narrative with TP&TF to put the knife in hand-drawn animation. Then the film suddenly came back to life as a 3D musical called Frozen after Tangled came out. I agree with you, Sotiris, it was always odd they took off the composer of the film they tried to frame as having begun the revival. I guess Menken gets no credit for having a role in that?
Hopefully Menken could have something here and there at Disney in the future now Lasseter's been sent packing. Funny, all these years being railed at by Lasseter fans, and it seemed a great deal of my perception of him turned out to be true.
Listening to most often lately:
Taylor Swift ~ ~ "The Fate of Ophelia"
Taylor Swift ~ "Eldest Daughter"
Taylor Swift ~ "CANCELLED!"
I was very disappointed both times he was replaced by other composers. In my opinion Randy Newman did a decent job with The Princess and the Frog and we all know how successful Frozen's songs became, but I also wish Alan had composed the music for both films. I hope he gets to work not only on this song, but on a new WDAS musical now that Lasseter is not at Disney anymore, if that's what prevented him to do it.
The soundtrack and film feature "A Place Called Slaughter Race," featuring Sarah Silverman, voice of Vanellope von Schweetz. In the vein of classic "I want" songs in the Disney canon such as "Someday My Prince Will Come" and "Part of Your World," the song showcases Vanellope's desire to be part of the world outside Sugar Rush-to grow as a racer and as a person. The song also features the singing debut of Gal Gadot ("Wonder Woman") as Shank. The music was composed by Oscar®-winning songwriter/composer Alan Menken ("The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Pocahontas" and "Aladdin") and the lyrics were written by Phil Johnston and GRAMMY®-winning producer Tom MacDougall (Frozen; Executive Vice President, Music at Disney)..
disneyprincess11 wrote:During the Lasseter reign, it was Kristin and Bobby Lopez who were writing a (deleted) song for the first Wreck-It Ralph. And now Lasseter is gone for good, Alan has suddenly returned to WDAS. Plus, it's no coincidence that Rich met Alan during John's "leave."
And people here were trying to convince me that it was all just a coincidence. The minute Lasseter left, Menken worked with WDAS again and on a movie that's not even a musical. This scene (and song) was not initially planned; it got added after Lasseter was ousted.
Yeah, I can't help remembering all those people who attacked both you, Sotiris, and me over the years for saying Lasseter was the one responsible for Menken being pushed out of the studios. Time makes fools out of everyone.
I always thought Lasseter was responsible for Musker "retiring," too; Moana always felt as if management had told them to consider the film their swan song. I'd love if he un-retired now Lasseter's gone, too. Maybe Chris Sanders might work at Disney again now, too. Who knows about Brenda Chapman.
Listening to most often lately:
Taylor Swift ~ ~ "The Fate of Ophelia"
Taylor Swift ~ "Eldest Daughter"
Taylor Swift ~ "CANCELLED!"
Well, my dog is not 100% Border Collie, it's crossbred, but now seriously, is the most intelligent dog I've ever had. She does a lot of things that surprise me. For example, she knows how to open doors and I never taught her to do that.
I love that every pet owner thinks their dog is the best. It's just how it should be. 
