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Video: Alan Menken and Glenn Slater Share What Makes SPELLBOUND Unique
Nov 22, 2024
BroadwayWorld sat down with Alan Menken and Glenn Slater to discuss their new animated musical Spellbound and what makes it different from previous projects from the composer and lyricist team. Watch the exclusive interview here!
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0:00
Let's take that step
0:01
Step in the new direction. Call it across direction. A step after step until we can pass the baton
0:08
And step by step as we keep stepping upward. No one will think it's forward
0:14
When we have passed to law. Well, this material is actually different from a lot of the other, most of the other, no, all of the other animated movies I've worked on
0:25
This defies formula. Because it's, it really is about. the architecture of the heart and this emotional situation
0:34
You know, it looks like a fairy tale and it feels like a fairy tale and it's as fun as a fairy tale
0:38
but it's really about a fairly complex family dynamic. And plot-wise, it's it adheres very closely to what families go through and how they deal with
0:49
this kind of a situation. And so we had the challenge of taking the familiar fairy tale language and making it work for
0:58
this new real-life situation. this allegory that's been created. And it didn't feel like repeating ourselves at all
1:05
It felt like a whole new set of challenges that we had to figure out and solve
1:11
And also, anytime I start a project, I want to go, what is the world
1:16
the musical world of this project that is unique from others that I've worked in, the world
1:25
And that was a challenge, again, with this one, because it is basically
1:30
we're pulling from all different influences. We're in a fantasy world that doesn't exist
1:36
and doesn't correlate with an existing place on Earth. So what does that sound like
1:42
And what we did was we took some bits and pieces from lots of different musical traditions
1:47
a little bit of Spanish and a little bit of Latin and a little bit of Bollywood and kind of mixed it together into what we hope feels like the sound of Lumbria Yes Its own thing
1:59
Yeah, and I think that what you're saying is probably why it feels so unique and feels so different because you have all these traditions like you're saying sort of mixed together
2:06
I know the project was in development for a while. Was there any particular song that changed the most as you were developing your new songs
2:14
Well, the song that got had most versions, I think, think was the song that ended up being my parents are monsters
2:24
But that also, the DNA of what made that song ticked musically was a concert that we could
2:30
go back to that were able to pull threads from. Yeah, I mean, unlike many fairy tale films, this is not based on an existing story
2:40
This is an entirely original story. And so while we were creating the score, we were working hand in hand with the filmmakers
2:48
to solve what is this and how do we tell it? And yes, as Alan said, that opening number went through many different versions
2:55
because so many different ways we could have started and it took a while for us to figure out the most effective way
3:02
is to start in media race. The story is already happening and Elian is just plunging us right into it with her
3:09
so that we could feel it viscerally the way she is. And, you know, it took us probably over a year and a half
3:16
to reach the point where we realized. that was the way into the story
3:20
Well, and because we, initially, that was the second number. There was a first number called Once Upon Another Lifetime
3:27
which was all the backstory. And, you know, traditionally you think, shut up the backstory before you get to that
3:34
And it just was dragging. And we said, the greatest ability you could have
3:39
as a songwriter for musical theater is the ability to go throw it away, throw it away
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