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Songwriter Alan Menken gets his star on the Walk of Fame

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For a period during the 1990s, it seemed like the only sure bet on Academy Awards night was the sight of Alan Menken collecting another statuette for songwriting. During his Disney hot streak, he won a total of eight Academy Awards, and has received 18 nominations to date. He has also won 10 Grammys for his movie work. On Wednesday, Menken added yet another honor to his overflowing resume.

Menken received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a ceremony that took place near the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. The songwriter was being honored for his body of work, which includes the scores to the animated movies ‘The Little Mermaid,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ ‘Aladdin’ and ‘Pocahontas.’

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In recent years, Menken has been devoting more time to the theater. He wrote or co-wrote the score for the musicals ‘Leap of Faith,’ which had its world premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre this season, and ‘Sister Act,’ which is scheduled to open next year on Broadway.

At Wednesday’s ceremony, Menken was joined by actress Mandy Moore of the upcoming animated Disney film ‘Tangled,’ for which Menken wrote the original score.

Menken’s Broadway credits include the stage versions of ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ as well as ‘Little Shop of Horrors.’

‘Leap of Faith’ is rumored to be Broadway bound but no official date has been announced. (One rumor has it that it won’t open in New York until next season.) ‘Sister Act’ premiered at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2006 before moving on to Atlanta and London. The Broadway production is set to open April 20 at the Broadway Theatre, with Patina Miller in the starring role.

-- David Ng

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A new Times database puts readers on the sidewalks of Hollywood, using more than a century of archives to track the lives of the stars, including recent Oscar winners Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock and recent honorees Dennis Hopper, Russell Crowe and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

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