An incredibly talented ensemble of Broadway stars—including four Tony Award winners—will celebrate legendary composer Alan Menken at the GMHC Cabaret and Howard Ashman Award on February 26. This will be an intimate evening devoted to music from the Ashman-Menken songbook!
It is very special for us to honor Menken, who collaborated with Ashman on the gifted lyricist’s most beloved songs. Ashman and Menken ushered in the Disney Renaissance with the animated classics The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, after working together on the musicals Little Shop of Horrors and Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You Mr. Rosewater. Their songs won multiple Academy Awards and people’s hearts worldwide before Ashman’s untimely death due to AIDS-related complications in 1991.
We’re thrilled that Oscar, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning lyricist and composer Stephen Schwartz— renowned for Godspell, Pippin, and Wicked—will present the Howard Ashman Award to Menken. The duo collaborated on the scores for the Disney films Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Enchanted.
Like Schwartz, many of the performers have a connection to Menken and his storied repertoire. James Monroe Iglehart won a Tony for his role as the Genie in Aladdin on Broadway. Arielle Jacobs has also appeared in Aladdin as Jasmine. Kara Lindsay originated the role of Katherine in the beloved Menken musical Newsies and starred as Glinda in Schwartz’s Wicked.
Tony winner J. Harrison Ghee just wrapped up a star turn as Jerry/Daphne in Some Like It Hot on Broadway. Their Tony Award last year for Best Leading Actor in a Musical made them the first nonbinary performer to win in that category.
Morgan Bryant, Johnny Newcomb, Khadija Sankoh and Tiffany Renee Thompson are currently appearing in the Off-Broadway revival of the Ashman-Menken cult favorite, Little Shop of Horrors. Oscar, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning lyricist Tim Rice, who collaborated with Menken on such hits as Aladdin and King David, will make a special video appearance.
The ensemble will be performing Ashman-Menken favorites with a bit of a twist. As a preview, Claybourne Elder will sing “Part of Your World,” Ariel’s song from The Little Mermaid. He loved the song as a closeted youth growing up Mormon, so it takes on new meaning to perform it as an out gay man who’s married and has a son. Elder is well-known to fans of the HBO hit The Gilded Age as John Adams, the closeted gay great-grandson of the second U.S. president. He most recently appeared on Broadway as Andy in the Tony Award-winning revival of Company.
We’re thrilled that Elder and other Broadway stars are returning from past GMHC Cabarets—and we thank them for taking their Monday night off from the stage to celebrate Menken in song. Every other night of the week, you can catch John Edwards in Broadway’s MJ the Musical.
Jelani Remy is currently appearing on Broadway in Back to the Future: The Musical. He’s also played Simba in The Lion King and Eddie Kendricks in the Tony Award-winning production of Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations.
Cabaret co-producers Courter Simmons and Jason Cianciotto, GMHC’s vice president of policy and external affairs, are working with musical director Kyle Branzel to craft unique medleys and mashups of Ashman and Menken’s most popular songs.
Simmons’ alter ego, Cacophony Daniels, will emcee the Cabaret. The award-winning cabaret artist is known for her own Ashman tribute, Under the ‘C’, and a Bette Midler tribute, Wanna Bette?, which she’s toured internationally.
We thank our sponsors for their generous support: Avita Pharmacy and Q Care Plus, Disney Theatrical Group, Room & Board, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, True Crime Obsessed Podcast, Michael Harwood, and Kelsey Louie.
Tickets are sold out! But you can still donate and support GMHC’s services and programs for people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.
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