Alan Menken

The Disney tradition - number one, it's a great American classic tradition - and it's something where you don't want to go over certain lines. You want to poke fun, but you don't want to poke fun in a way that's hurtful. ”

Music can be witty, but it's not funny unless it's conceptually funny. ”

What brought me to Disney was the new regime, which is now the old regime - came over with Michael Eisner, Frank Wells, Jeffrey Katzenberg - and all these people really wanted to reinvigorate the animated musical, so they came to Howard Ashman and me. That was my entry into Disney. ”

I always wanted to be a composer, and I sort of went in to NYU as pre-med because I just thought, 'Well... who actually becomes a composer?' ”

Songs should have an infectious melody and rhythm and, I think, should elicit an emotion of happiness or of celebration or of sadness or of sorrow or of love or laughter, whatever. ”

I have lots of personal feelings of my own, but at this stage in my life and career, I'm very much driven by assignment. ”

You're creating a score that has to have an emotional and story logic to it. You want a dramatic arc. You want all the songs to push story forward. That's the same whether it's for stage or film or television or whatever. ”

The things I tend to do best are the things that are the most overtly emotional, whether it's sentimental or whether it's celebratory or whether it's conflicted. ”

Most things that I write are in very specific forms. A score will have a shape and profile, and then the more emotional and intimate moments will come. ”

I've said, for a long time, my favorite part of my career is when I'm creating a new thing where I'm pulling from a new place. ”