'Greatest Showman' Songwriters Wrote New Music for Disney's Live-Action 'Aladdin'

'The Greatest Showman' songwriters Benj Pasek & Justin Paul are working on new music for Disney's [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

The Greatest Showman songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul penned new lyrics for Disney's upcoming live-action Aladdin, they told Variety on Sunday's Oscars red carpet.

"We're really thrilled that we got to collaborate with one of our heroes, Alan Menken, and we collaborated with him and wrote the lyrics for two new songs for Aladdin that's coming out next year," Pasek said.

"Just being in the studio with him and getting to suck him dry for all the stories he would tell us and pick his brain about it, we probably delayed work for several weeks just trying to be like, 'tell us about Ariel, tell us about Ursula.' We freaked out, so we're really excited for that, and really thrilled to be a part of the Disney family, too."

The songwriting duo, professionally dubbed Pasek & Paul, were nominated at last night's ceremony for Best Original Song for their work on The Greatest Showman, which starred Hugh Jackman and Zendaya.

Pasek and Paul took home Original Song gold at last year's ceremony for penning La La Land's "City of Stars."

Composer Alan Menken is best known for scoring several prominent Disney animated features, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules and Tangled.

The eight-time Academy Award winner, who also scored the 1992 Aladdin, won his second Oscar in the Original Song category for "A Whole New World," the romantic duet between pauper Aladdin and princess Jasmine. Menken shared the award with lyricist Tim Rice.

Most recently, Menken returned to score and provide new music for Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast musical, a re-imagining inspired by the 1991 animated film.

In addition to his return to next year's Aladdin, the prolific musician will team with Lin-Manuel Miranda, star of Tony Award-winning Broadway hit Hamilton and the upcoming Mary Poppins Returns, heading under the sea to score Disney's forthcoming Little Mermaid live-action remake.

Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) directs Aladdin, bringing the animated Disney classic to life from a script by Ritchie and John August (Big Fish, Frankenweenie).

Mena Massoud (Strange but True) and Naomi Scott (Power Rangers) star as Aladdin and Jasmine, who are joined by Marwan Kenzari (The Mummy) as the villainous Jafar, Navid Negahban (Homeland) as Jasmine's father, the Sultan, Nasim Pedrad (Saturday Night Live) as Dalia, Jasmine's loyal handmaiden, Billy Magnussen (Idris Goes West) as a suitor and potential husband for Princess Jasmine, and Will Smith (Suicide Squad) as the magical and comical Genie.

Aladdin flies into theaters May 24, 2019.

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