‘Beauty And The Beast’ Composer Alan Menken Spills Details On His New Songs
Disney’slive-action remakeofBeauty and the Beastfeatures three new ballads from composerAlan Menken. Menken, who recently wrote “The Great Beyond” forSausage Party, collaborated with the lateHoward Ashmanand lyricistTim Riceon the original animated film’s tunes. 25 years later, he’s now working on directorBill Condon’sBeauty and the Beast, which will feature new songs sung by Belle (Emma Watson) and Beast (Dan Stevens), in addition to a song performed by Tony Award winnerAudra McDonald.
Below, learn more about the newBeauty and the Beastsongs.
Entertainment Weeklycontinues to dish out more information on next year’sBeauty and the Beast. The outlet spoke with Academy Award winner Alan Menken, who discussed some of the new songs he wrote for the Disney film. One of the new ballads is “Our Song Lives On,” which we’ll hear more than once in the movie:
Next up is “For Evermore,” which Menken wrote as a quasi-replacement for “I Can’t Love Her,” one of the many songs from the Broadway show that isn’t a part of the film. The Beast sings “For Evermore.”
‘For Evermore’ is this moment where the Beast now loves Belle, and he realizes that she misses her father, and he acknowledges she’s no longer a prisoner, and when she sees her father’s in trouble, he says, ‘Go to him, go.’ And he voluntarily lets her go. He’s basically singing about how he now knows what love is, as he watches her leave, and he’s climbing up the turret of the castle as she recedes into the distance, just watching her go further and further away.
The third and final new song is “Days in the Sun,” whichBeauty and the BeastproducerDavid Hobermanfirmly believes will win Menken his ninth Academy Award. Belle sings the song one late night as everybody in the castle remembers better days, and Menken describes it as “a lullaby and a remembrance of happier days for everybody.” Lastly, EW confirmed Audra McDonald, who plays Madame De Garderobe, is a part of the remake’s prologue, which takes place at the selfish Prince’s castle before he’s turned into the Beast. McDonald sings the opening number.
Beauty and the Beastopens in theatersMarch 17th, 2017.
