For Kristen

Sunday I made the trip to Bowling Green to attend my friend Kristen’s senior undergraduate flute recital. Since she is a talented musician and has a work ethic that puts Protestants to shame, it was a fantastic concert. This post, therefore, is dedicated, in honor of Kristen, to Menken and Schwartz.

…Okay, rewind. How did I go from flute recitals to Menken and Schwartz? (And who are Menken and Schwartz? We’ll get to that…)

The answer is fifteen years of friendship. Kristen is basically my sister. When we were little, our families traded babysitting—her mom would watch me and my brothers on Mondays, my mom would watch Kristen and her brothers on Fridays—so that our mothers (both of whom did the bookkeeping for their husband’s small businesses) would have a free day to work. And even though you didn’t need to know all that… well, it’s the human interest angle, right? Right.

Incidentally, Kristen’s mom was my piano teacher for twelve years. That may end up being important in the following anecdote (and if not, then just write it off as more human interest).

Pocahontas came out when I was approximately seven. Kristen and I LOVED (loved loved loved loved… etc) it, like most little girls our age. I had Pocahontas clip-on earrings; she had a Pocahontas Barbie doll; etc. Our most prized possession (I say “our,” but really it was Kristen’s), however, was a piano book of songs from Pocahontas. Too bad we were seven years old and could not even hope to play them.

By the time we were old enough to play the music, the book was long lost. If I saw the book today, I’m sure it would be “Easy Big Note Edition” or something that most people could play in their sleep. But at the time, it was the Eldorado of piano music. We wanted to play it SO BADLY…

Which brings us to Menken and Schwartz. Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz are the reason that the Pocahontas song book even existed. They are the guys who came up with the music. And if you don’t know their names, I’ll bet you know their work.

Composer Alan Menken (born 1949, as per Wikipedia) has won eight Academy Awards, for films such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas (of course), and, more recently, Enchanted. In the wonderful world of musical theatre, his credits include music for the stage version of Beauty and the Beast and Little Shop of Horrors (which if you haven’t seen, you should. Here’s a link to the title song).

Composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz (born 1948, again from Wikipedia) may or may not be my own personal hero. Lately, he is probably best known for the musical Wicked, an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s book of the same name. Schwartz has three Grammys, three Academy Awards, and a has been nominated for six Tonys. (A joke for those of you who are casual 30 Rock viewers like I am: all he needs is an Emmy to win Tracy’s lusted-after EGOT.) In all seriousness, though: Stephen Schwartz writes sweet stuff. Other notable stage credits include Godspell and Pippin. Film credits include Godspell, Pocahontas, the Prince of Egypt, and Enchanted.

To end:

Go run the hidden pine trails of the forest. It’s nice outside.