"Aladdin," the new animated feature from Walt Disney Pictures, is, of course, based on the "Arabian Nights" tale of the young boy who finds a magic lamp and unleashes a genie that offers him three wishes. But before Robin Williams became the genie's voice, the character was envisioned very differently from the blue, boisterous celebrity impersonator that audiences will see when the film opens Wednesday.
"The original characterization of the genie was a hipster," according to Alan Menken, the Oscar-winning composer of the film's musical score, interviewed by telephone last week. "We used a lot of Fats Waller - it was very Fats Waller. That became the pallet we drew on for `Aladdin,' with thingsboth very Arabian and things very '30s and '40s jazz, Cab Calloway, Astaire and Rogers - the kind of music you've likely heard in pictures from the '30s and '40s. We were going for a kind of Hope and Crosby `Road' picture flavor."Though Menken's music is integral to "Aladdin," the songs do not dominate the narrative as did those for "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid." Menken won a total of four Oscars for those films, sharing two with his lyricist partner, Howard Ashman, who died in March of 1991.
Before his death, Ashman conceived the "Aladdin" concept and wrote six songs for the project with Menken. But after his death, the project was rewritten and most of the songs were deemed inappropriate for the film's new direction. "What usually happens in a project like this is you try to get your feet wet in the very beginning. We used Arabian style music and it worked very well against Howard's lyrics. But aside from the second song, `A Friend Like Me,' very few remain." Other songs were added, written by Menken with lyricist Tim Rice ("Evita," "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat").
Though he is very happy with "Aladdin," Menken admits that he had some initial disappointment that the film veered away from its musical roots. And he also felt somewhat intimidated at having to follow the enormous success of "Beauty and the Beast." "I knew the quality of `Aladdin' - and some of these songs precede the `Beauty and the Beast' songs. But I knew long ago we had something good coming. `A Friend Like Me' was always my favorite song to perform in public.
"At the same time, the process was fraught with frustration. I knew we could lose the baby with the bath water with all the changes we were making. More than `Beauty and the Beast,' `Aladdin' stands on the strength of the animation as an action-adventure and a comedy. The musical role is simply a more supportive one. The fact is that it works, but it was daunting.'
Menken first teamed with Ashman in 1979 for "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater," which played off-Broadway. They next adapted "Little Shop of Horrors" for Broadway, which later became a film. That led to their first Disney project, "The Little Mermaid."
"I like to think that Howard and I carried what we just naturally did forward into the animated projects we did with Disney. What was theatrical was how to tell the story and how to use the songs to move the story forward."
Menken had another film project this year, the live-action musical "Newsies," which was a box office flop. Menken does not feel it was an artistic failure, however. "I felt very good about `Newsies.' I think its lack of success is an indictment of live-action filmmaking imposed on the process that the musical needs. It needs more care and commitment.
" `Newsies' was kind of flung out there the same way any other Buena Vista release would be put out there, with very little support in terms of marketing. And the opening week's box office confirmed that. A musical requires a producer, people who really stand by it.
"There still isn't much support for musicals in Hollywood. But the animated pictures work - and they are musicals."
So, will there be a revival of movie musicals in the future? "Oh, it's inevitable. When they hit, they're more popular than any other form. And they last longer. Nothing has a longer shelf life than a musical that works. I just can't imagine that they won't be revived at some point."
Among Menken's current projects is another Disney animated feature, "Pocahontas," with lyricist Stephen Schwartz ("Godspell," "Pippin"), scheduled for release in 1994, and a Broadway stage version of "Beauty and the Beast." "Tim Rice will step in to help me complete that with material Howard and I wrote that wasn't used in the film."