Richard
Sherman/Alan Menken Disney Songbook Concert at the D23 Expo
The fan favorite event at the 2013 D23 Expo was a concert by
Richard Sherman and Alan Menken on Saturday evening. Even before the Expo
started people were talking about how they would make sure they got to see these
two men play their music. The concert was scheduled to start at 6 PM Saturday evening.
The line outside the D23 Arena started to form well before 2 o’clock. I hopped
into line at about 2 o’clock and was at least 1000 people back in line. The
concert was to last about two hours instead it lasted closer to three.
Richard and Alan came out on stage together and were
introduced. You could see the warm affection between these two fantastic
artists. Alan Menken spoke warmly of how Richard Sherman welcomed him into the
Disney musical family years ago. There was only one piano on stage so they were
asked how they would play. Alan Menken laughed and said, “4 handed?” It was
announced that one would play in the other would come out later. They joke
about who would play first and Menken joked, “age before beauty?” And Richard
Sherman jokingly took to the piano.
The next hour was filled with Richard Sherman playing the
wonderful music that he and his brother Robert wrote over the years. He started
with the early music of the Jungle Book, Mary Poppins and even touched on
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. As he played he told stories about the writing and
special memories of songs.
The most poignant moment was when Richard was talking about
the Mary Poppins song, “Feed the Birds”. Richard told the audience about the
day he and Robert took a stack of songs for Mary Poppins to Walt Disney’s
office. They finished playing all the songs and Walt walked over to the north
facing window and stood with his arms behind his back looking out the window.
Walt said, “Play that Birdsong again”. So Richard and Robert played “Feed the
Birds” for Walt again. When they finished the song Walt said, “Thats it! That
song is the reason for the story.” Richard and Robert said, “Yes Walt”. That
day Walt signed The Boys to work with him.
Richard shared one more memory of “Feed the Birds”. In 2001
there was a rededication of the Partners Statue at Disneyland. A beautiful
white piano was placed in front of the statue in the Central Hub. Richard had
play the selection of Disney songs and all of a sudden stopped. He looked at
the approximately 2000 people gathered around for this rededication. He told
them, “This next song is not for you, it’s for Walt. It was his favorite song.”
He then proceeded to play “Feed the Birds”. Not a sound was made as he played
but as he played the final phrase and sang, “Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag”
there was a great collective sharp intake of breath. A single bird came streaking out of the blue sky and
swooped down low over the piano and then flew up and away. Richard had not seen
the bird, when he got backstage he asked what had happen. When he heard the
story and then saw the video of the bird he looked around and said, “Walt came.”
The first half of the evening was filled with wonderful moments
like this from Richard Sherman.
Alan Menken came out with a stack of paper and set it on the
edge of the piano. He started with his early works that he did for Disney and
went through the list movie by movie playing the music he wrote. He spoke
fondly of working with Howard Ashman and other talented composers over the
years.
He joked about how you never know what is going to be a hit.
He affectionately remembered “Newsies”. He spoke of how “Newsies” was a flop
when it came out in the theaters but now has one Tony awards on Broadway!
Alan joked about being the only composer to have won an
Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Razzy!
The evening ended with both men together on stage singing
their songs about the world. Alan Menken sang Part Of You are World and Richard
Sherman sang It’s a Small World.
These two men did not disappoint the audience! Even though I
was in an arena with 4000 people I felt like they were playing for a small
intimate group that I was blessed to be a part of. This evening was made even
more special because in the row behind us was John Lasseter. He was the biggest
fan in the room! You could hear him clapping, whistling and cheering Richard
and Alan on.
So now, find a comfy chair, get yourself something to drink
and turn up the sound. Enjoy the video of the Disney songbook by Richard
Sherman and Alan Menken.
Sherman/Menken Disney Songbook part 1/3
Sherman/Menken Disney Songbook part 2/3
Sherman/Menken Disney Songbook part 3/3
Sherman/Menken Disney Songbook part 1/3
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