If an Oscar, Tony and Grammy weren’t enough for Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, they can now say they’ve collaborated with musical legend Alan Menken.
It was announced in July 2017 that the “La La Land” and “The Greatest Showman” duo would be working with Menken on new songs for director Guy Ritchie’s upcoming live-action retelling of 1992’s “Aladdin,” starring Mena Massoud in the lead role, Will Smith as Genie and Naomi Scott as Jasmine.
Pasek and Paul have finally revealed some new details about their songs for Aladdin.
“We got to write a new song for Jasmine,” Paul tells Variety. “Alan wrote a beautiful piece of music and [Scott] is incredible.”
They also wrote a duet for Aladdin and Jasmine. “It’s a sweet song,” Paul said.
They even got to write a new verse for the original film’s “Arabian Nights.” “Aladdin” is set for release on May 24, 2019.
Variety caught up with Paul and Pasek at Soho House in West Hollywood where they took part in a peer-to-peer conversation on Monday about “In the Market for a Miracle,” their Emmy-nominated Hanukkah number from Fox’s “A Christmas Story Live!”
The song was performed by Ana Gasteyer, who played Mrs. Schwartz. “Before she even committed to doing it, we were like, ‘Hey, do you want to be on ‘A Christmas Story?’ We’ll write you a song,’” Pasek remembered. “That was sort of the way we wanted to try to get her to play Mrs. Schwartz. She was like, ‘OK, what’s the song going to be about?’ We were like, ‘It’s going to be a Hanukkah song!’”
Paul said there are still no firm plans to adapt “La La Land” as a live musical. “We would be very excited to see it come to the stage,” he said.
Pasek added, “It’s been talked about, so it’s not a dead idea.”
They said the same was true for turning their Tony-winning musical “Dear Evan Hansen” into a movie. Until that happens, fans will get the chance to read their upcoming “Dear Evan Hansen” novel. “There are so many people that love the show and the fans that engage with it online,” Paul said. “They’re creating their own fan art. They’re creating their own fan fiction. So, [a book] feels like the right thing to do to get to take this story into mediums where it can be shared with more than 1,000 people a night, or a couple thousand people a night.”
Source : Variety
