San Francisco's Walt Disney Family Museum will celebrate Alan Menken earning EGOT status with a virtual fundraiser celebrating the Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid composer's career, featuring special guest Lin-Manuel Miranda. The pair is currently at work writing new songs for a live-action film version of The Little Mermaid.
An Evening with Alan Menken, set for August 6, will begin with a ticketed VIP chat between Menken and music producer Chris Montan at 8 PM ET, immediately followed by a performance by Menken and Miranda at 8:30 PM ET. Free and open to the public, the performance will showcase some of Menken's most beloved Disney songs, including "Under the Sea," "A Whole New World," and "Be Our Guest."
Proceeds from the event will support The Walt Disney Family Museum's education programs, which offer instruction to aspiring animators. The event will also benefit the museum's work with Bay Area underserved youth, including the At-Promise Youth Animation Academy.
Named an official Disney Legend in 2002, Menken began his career at Disney with collaborator Howard Ashman, writing songs and composing the film score for The Little Mermaid in 1989. Menken followed that up with a string of beloved Disney animated films, including Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Pochahontas, and the live-action films Newsies and Enchanted. His prolific stage career includes such musicals as God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Little Shop of Horrors, Sister Act, A Bronx Tale, and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, along with many stage adaptations of his Disney films.
Tickets for the VIP chat, which begin at $200, and free registration for the virtual performance are available at WaltDisney.org/Menken.
