Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz compete against themselves with 3 tunes from “Enchanted”

By Jonathan Zipper

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 2/22/08 – Twelve years ago, the songwriting duo of Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz scored their first two Oscars as a team for “Pocahontas.” In 2008, they have three originals nominated for the Best Song category, all from Disney’s “Enchanted.”

“We’ve always had a great time working together,” Menken told Hollywood Today. “We have a great, fluid collaboration – we love working together.”

Schwartz went a step further, providing some insight into their award-winning process.

“The music tends to lead, which is a way I like to work and seems to work well for us,” said Schwartz. “Over the years, starting even with ‘Colors of the Wind,’ which was the first song we wrote together, that’s kind of how our process has evolved. We know what the assignment is, or we come to understand what the assignment is, what the song needs to accomplish, and what part of the story we’re trying to tell.”

Between the two of them, they have accumulated a staggering 26 Academy Award nominations. When they learned about Disney’s plans to make a part-animated, part-live action musical feature, Menken and Schwartz both jumped at the opportunity.

“That’s the brilliance of the concept,” Schwartz exclaimed.

“I had heard of it as a potential musical going back five years, and I thought it was a great idea,” added Menken.

Drawing from earlier Disney projects, and reviewing the catalogue as far back as Walt Disney’s era, they found their inspiration for the witty and upbeat tunes that run throughout “Enchanted.”

“Certainly [for] the beginning of the movie we looked a lot at Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, and how music [was] used in those movies – the style of music, the sort of innocence, and to some extent the naivety of those songs – and tried to channel that a little bit,” Schwartz explained.

With all of the attention and the successful run “Enchanted” had at the box office, it seems highly unlikely that Disney has yet to consider a potential sequel.

“I think it’s really early to talk about something like that,” said Menken. “There’s been nothing concrete. I mean, people fantasize.”

However, as Schwartz revealed, he would sign-up without a doubt.

“This was such a blast to do. Just speaking for myself, I had so much fun that if someone would like to invite me to enter this world again, I will go there very happily. Absolutely.”