Alan Menken scored EGOT status July 26 with a win at the Daytime Emmy Awards, becoming the 16th person in history to win a competitive Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. The composer won Outstanding Original Song in a Children’s, Young Adult, or Animated Program alongside lyricist Glenn Slater for "Waiting in the Wings," from Disney Channel's Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure.
Menken won the Best Original Score Tony Award in 2012 for Newsies. The frequent Disney contributor won eight Oscars during the late '80s and throughout the '90s writing music for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas. His film work also won him 11 Grammy Awards, most recently for Tangled in 2012. The composer previously received an honorary Primetime Emmy Award for his work on the Television Academy's anti-drug special for children in 1990.
In addition to the updated scores for Disney screen-to-stage adaptations, Menken wrote the music for Little Shop of Horrors, Sister Act, and A Bronx Tale.
READ: How Has Little Shop of Horrors Changed Over the Years?
Among his upcoming projects is Spellbound, which reunites Menken with Slater and Tony-nominated Beauty and the Beast book writer Linda Woolverton.
Menken joins a lineup of composers to reach the coveted distinction, with Richard Rodgers becoming the first individual to EGOT in 1962. The list also includes Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick, Robert Lopez, and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
From Beauty and the Beast to A Bronx Tale: Celebrating Alan Menken on Broadway
