Lin-Manuel and The Little Mermaid — Page 2

Miranda and Disney has certainly become very close lately...

gypsy101 said: "wow this news is shocking and strange to me. I'm confused: will Miranda be writing the lyrics to Menken's music or will he be writing songs separately from Menken? and if the songs are being written separately will Glenn Slater return or will any of the stage version's songs be retained? (most of the stage songs weren't up to Menken's standard in my opinion) i want answers!



"

I do too! I also agree that most of the new songs were "meh", but I really liked Poor Unfortunate Souls' reprise.

willep said: "Is this a different film than the Chloe Grace Moretz Little Mermaid? I'm pretty sure she has said hers isn't a musical.


Yes, you are correct. That one was going to be directed by Sofia Coppola. The film is also going to be released by Warner Bros, I believe. Additionally, that one was going for more of the traditional Hans Christian Anderson approach.

If only the Ashman estate could put a stop to this.

Reactions in order...

Yay! My wish for a Menken/Miranda collaboration has been granted!

Oh? The Little Mermaid? What do they need to add to that story? I haven't really loved any of Disney's recent live action fairy tales (Maleficent, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, etc.)

At least it's not Glenn Slater.

Disney hasn't used real sets in their movies like this in years right??

Mr. Nowack said: "Disney hasn't used real sets in their movies like this in years right??



Cinderella used mostly real sets.

It almost feels like we are looking for a reason to disagree with him being part of this. Lin has not disappointed yet with any of the projects he's been associated with, and is a commercially reliable "product" at this point in his career. From an artistic standpoint, I don't know another current musical theater artist who is as reverential in his work as he is. And as he established with several numbers in Hamilton (and hopefully Moana), hip-hop is his preferred genre but far from being the only thing he's good at which is what several of above assumptions are based on.

Relax. Wait for the product to arrive. For all you know, it could be "everything you ever wanted".

ACL2006 said: "so will Under The Sea be turned into a rap song now?? What part will Lin play?? Sebastian??



"

I'm not sure why you are left with the impression that Lin can ONLY do rap. Lin, in fact, can also write marvelous traditional show tunes . Breathe from In the Heights has been one of my favorite songs that sounds nothing like what you would call "rap."

aaaaaa15 said: "I find it especially funny as Lin has proven himself to be one of the Broadway composers that can actually write in quite a variety of genres, yet is one of the few to be continually pigeonholed. "



That's quite a statement considering he's only worked on three musicals thus far, two of which are very similar in structure, tone, style and use.

He should probably write more than two and a half musical scores, much of which is actually done by LMM ghostwriter Alex Lacamoire, before receiving such praise but I guess his loyal-to-a-fault fans like you are willing to die by their own swords. Good luck.

Liza's Headband said: "He should probably write more than two and a half musical scores, much of which is actually done by LMM ghostwriter Alex Lacamoire, before receiving such praise but I guess his loyal-to-a-fault fans like you are willing to die by their own swords. Good luck."



Do you understand the difference between orchestrations and music, Liza? Lin and Alex have never been cagey about what each other's contributions have been to In The Heights or Hamilton. Alex has done orchestrations, which is a huge part of the score. He is, by no means, a "ghostwriter". By your definition, Jonathan Tunick was the ghostwriter for Follies.

You also hit a point which can be presented in a very different way. He's written ONLY two-and-a-half musicals. And both of them had a healthy mix of hip hop and other genres. He's equally accomplished IMHO to do standard musical theater, but he chooses to mix it up a little. He's a brilliant lyricist and his use of motifs rival Stephen Schwartz. I don't know what he could do to not be pigeon-holed. I'm not a die-hard fan, and I do think he has faults. But not being versatile is NOT one of them.