"There are certainly Arabian harmonies in this film," explains Menken, "but we tried to expand the palette to really fit a certain period. It's like those early Astaire/Rogers musicals which were always looking at exotic places and far away fantasies. So there are bits of '30s and '40s style music mixed in with the Arabian influences. We took from a lot of different places for the score."
The film opens with "Arabian Nights", a song that Menken wrote with his late partner and Academy Award-winning collaborator, Howard Ashman. Sung by Bruce Adler, this song is a short musical interlude that follows a peddler on camelback as he enters the city of Agrabah. The composer describes it as "orthodox Arabic/Middle Eastern" in its influences.
The Menken-Tim Rice composition "One Jump Ahead" is the next on the bill and it serves as a musical introduction to Aladdin as he is being chased through the marketplace. It is sung by Aladdin (Brad Kane) as he expresses his pragmatic and optimistic outlook on life. Menken calls the song "a frenetic Arabic Charleston."
"Friend Like Me" is a Fats Waller/Cab Calloway-style show-stopper featuring Ashman's lyrics and sung by the Genie as he "illuminates the possibilities" of his powers to his new master. Accompanied by some of the most inventive visual ever captured on film, this number is one of the composer's favorites. "This song is very special to me," says Menken. "It features some of Howard's greatest lyrics and I love performing it because it's so much fun."
Ashman's brilliant wordplay is heard again in the song "Prince Ali" , which heralds the arrival of Aladdin as he comes to town posing as a fabulously wealthy prince. This is a major production number in the film, rich with outrageous visuals that complement the lyrics. A repise of this song, with lyrics by Tim Rice, appears near the end of the film with Jafar offering a sarcastic twist on the previous version.
Rounding out the program is the beautiful Menken-Rice ballad, "A Whole New World" which is sung by Aladdin (Kane) and Princess Jasmine (Lea Salonga) as they take a romantic trip on a magic carpet to amazing places, falling in love in the process. According to Menken, "I really came to a new place with this song. It's among the broadest and most romantic songs I've even written."
© 1992 The Walt Disney Company
ALADDIN Home Page