JudyDenmark said: "Little Shop is arguably my favorite musical, period. So that's a no-brainer for me.
But Hercules and Hunchback are truly works of art. I still hold out hope for a Hercules musical... the music is glorious.
"
There's still hope, he himself has said it's another of his own work that he would like to see on stage in it's full glory. That cruise one was tragic...and I dammit I wanna be Meg so damn badly.
Moving on, to say he's forgotten seems very silly. Not known outside of the world of Disney/show bis would be more correct. He, among a few other composers, are the ones who's music you absolutely would know, but you don't know who HE is. Kinda like how no one seems to know who Robin Wright Penn is but the moment you say "JJjjjeennnaaayyy" everyone knows who she is. It's their work you know, not the actual person. A friend of mine who's a musician (more hobby than anything but still) but not necessarily a show tune nut, didn't even know his name, but whenI listed all his work his response was "Wow....to have written all that work that the whole planet know and has affected so many in great ways and yet only be known to Disneyphiles...". Very apropos. Unless you're a musical theater nerd/Disneyphile, you won't know his name. Being a millennial, his work is the soundtrack to my childhood and I STILL have to constantly remind my parents of his name/who he is.
Oh god...for me to name a favorite is practically impossible because I adore him way more than any words can express, so I better stop gushing now, BUT I just gonna name favorites, regardless of stage or not. Beauty and the Beast for it's sheer Menken-ness, it's what I would put as classic Menken, but Hunchback, Hercules, and Pocahontas for showing his amazing set of versatility he has. None of those three sound like the other, he's 100% tops in creating a musical universe for his shows, a world of what he thinks the music would sound like in that world, real or not, and how they might change with each character or situation but still make completes sense in the puzzle of the whole piece.
Now my favorite lesser known works of his are Weird Romance, thank you to who mentioned that one it NEEDS it day in the sun (no pun intended), and King David. I'm surprised no one mentioned that one yet, it's another classic Menken that I'm shocked no one seems to remember. I want that piece done as a fully staged musical VERY badly...The man has hardly any bad work to his name, and is also a master of deceptive simplicity. He's writes such hummable tunes that aren't cheaply catchy but still accessible to the masses. He's a genius for sure.
Updated On: 5/18/17 at 12:21 AM
