Galavant and Alan Menken
Galavant has to be one of my favorite musical comedy series of all time. The music is great, the comedy is hilarious, and the music is GREAT. ABC took a risk on this series back in 2015 and again a year later with a second season, despite the first season not getting nearly as many views as it deserved. The reason for the network's trust of the series comes from the songwriter of the show, Alan Menken. I've always said that people should know Menken's name, and even if you don't know who he is, I can guarantee that you've heard something written by him.
Alan Menkin is responsible for the music from Little Shop of Horrors, Newsies, plus most of the Disney films since 1989, when The Little Mermaid came out. Menkin wrote for Hercules, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Tangled, and was originally tapped to write for Disney's film based on Hans Christian Anderson's tale of "The Ice Queen," which eventually became Frozen, and which he didn't write the music for. With Galavant, he was able to spread his creative wings a bit to write more inappropriate and humorous songs, while still having the incredible musical backbone behind such pieces as, "A Whole New World." The songs in Galavant include the incredibly touching love song, "Maybe You're Not the Worst Thing Ever," the tragically hopeful and upbeat, "My Dragon Pal and Me," and the sweet and sentimental, "Goodnight My Friend," which wouldn't be out of place in any Disney movie that you see in theaters.
The storyline of the series is certainly something that plays with expectations. The base of the story is the classic "knight in shining armor has to save the damsel in distress," but in a change, the damsel decides to stay with the king that kidnaps her at the beginning of the first episode. The characters are all very humorous and relatable, especially in the second season. Surprisingly, the King that kidnaps Galavant's girlfriend at the beginning of the series becomes the best character on the whole show by the end. I can't spoil anything, but it's a fantastic story and a great redemption arc for a goofy character.
Galavant is a great show and as it's all on Netflix right now, I would say please check it out. It's only two seasons with only 10-12 episodes each, and each episode is only 30 minutes if time is a restraint that you're worried about. Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Alan Menkin is responsible for the music from Little Shop of Horrors, Newsies, plus most of the Disney films since 1989, when The Little Mermaid came out. Menkin wrote for Hercules, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Tangled, and was originally tapped to write for Disney's film based on Hans Christian Anderson's tale of "The Ice Queen," which eventually became Frozen, and which he didn't write the music for. With Galavant, he was able to spread his creative wings a bit to write more inappropriate and humorous songs, while still having the incredible musical backbone behind such pieces as, "A Whole New World." The songs in Galavant include the incredibly touching love song, "Maybe You're Not the Worst Thing Ever," the tragically hopeful and upbeat, "My Dragon Pal and Me," and the sweet and sentimental, "Goodnight My Friend," which wouldn't be out of place in any Disney movie that you see in theaters.
The storyline of the series is certainly something that plays with expectations. The base of the story is the classic "knight in shining armor has to save the damsel in distress," but in a change, the damsel decides to stay with the king that kidnaps her at the beginning of the first episode. The characters are all very humorous and relatable, especially in the second season. Surprisingly, the King that kidnaps Galavant's girlfriend at the beginning of the series becomes the best character on the whole show by the end. I can't spoil anything, but it's a fantastic story and a great redemption arc for a goofy character.
Galavant is a great show and as it's all on Netflix right now, I would say please check it out. It's only two seasons with only 10-12 episodes each, and each episode is only 30 minutes if time is a restraint that you're worried about. Thanks for reading and have a great day!
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