Alan Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist. Menken has collaborated with several renowned lyricists including Howard Ashman (1950-1991), Tim Rice and Stephen Schwartz. He has won eight Academy Awards. Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. The musical ran on Broadway for 5,464 performances between 1994 and 2007, becoming Broadway's sixth-longest running production.[1] The production holds the record of being the longest running production at both the Palace Theatre, where it opened, and the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, where it closed its Broadway run. The musical has grossed more than $1.4 billion worldwide and played in thirteen countries and 115 cities.[2] It has also become a very popular choice for high school productions.[3]
Produced by Disney Theatrical, a fully owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, the show debuted on Broadway three years after the release of the movie.
A National Tour is scheduled to begin in 2010.[4]
According to an article in The.