Alan Menken Discusses Working With Lin-Manuel Miranda; New ‘Little Mermaid’ Songs
Although Alan Menken and Lin-Manue Miranda are working together for the first time on 2023’s The Little Mermaid, the duo have actually known each other for decades.
Miranda attended Hunter College Elementary School in New York City with Menken’s niece Jenny. Miranda, a superfan of Menken’s work on films such as The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Pocahontas, apparently even hounded Menken for his autograph.


Photo: Variety
“My sister would always tell me about this little boy, Lin-Manuel Miranda,” Menken tells Yahoo Entertainment in a new interview. “It’s not a name you forget, right? ‘Lin-Manuel Miranda loves The Little Mermaid. He wants to know, could you sign this poster?’ I finally signed the poster saying, ‘Please stop kissing Jenny’s feet.’ Because he was so insistent… he just was so passionate about [his fandom].”


Photo: Yahoo
Miranda Becomes A Star
Amazingly enough, Lin-Manuel Miranda would become a musical legend in his own right, something that Menken always took pride in.


Photo: PRESLEY ANN/GETTY
“And then years later, there’s Lin-Manuel Miranda coming with [his Broadway breakout] In the Heights. And then Hamilton. And so I have this feeling about him of pride in him because I knew him since he was a kid. Then we’re collaborating and that was so much fun.”
Writing New ‘Little Mermaid’ Songs
For the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, the musical duo not only tweaked some of the film’s original songs, but they collaborated on creating new material for the film.


Photo: Entertainment Weekly/Disney
One of these songs, “The Scuttlebutt,” began with a simple Menken tune.
“I gave [Lin] this little Caribbean tune. And above it, he rapped… It’s the most Miranda-est… It’s got that combination of that original Mermaid feel and then this rap over it. It’s the most amazing expanding of the envelope for Little Mermaid,” Menken recalls.
For another one of the film’s new songs, “For the First Time,” Menken and Miranda actually started with a tune that was considered for the original animated classic.
“For ‘The First Time,’ I gave [Lin] a variation on something that was in the original movie. [He tweaked the tempo] and that combination just gave it this incredible rhythmic rub. That was so exciting,” Menken says.
In the end, Menken and Miranda were able to add a modern twist to the classic soundtrack, and so far at least, audiences seem to be responding.
The Little Mermaid lands in theaters May 26th and is heading towards a $125 million opening weekend.


Photo: Giles Keyte/Disney
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