Rich with the tones, colours and textures that help viewers feel those big moments deep in their hearts, Alan Menken's music is an indispensable element of many of the most beloved classics of Disney and Broadway alike. Born in Manhattan in 1949, the composer began his career in film and musical theatre in the early ’70s and soon established his forte for the themes and melodies that bring the characters' innermost hopes and hurts into the light. Conveyed with great vividness and immediacy, that wide spectrum of feelings includes the romantic yearning that fills the title song in Beauty and the Beast, the effervescent joy that spills out of "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid and many more expressions that have delighted and moved listeners for decades.