by Ryan Keaveney

Composer Randy Newman and Walt Disney Pictures make a return to classical, hand-drawn animation with their gumbo-flavored trip to the bayou in The Princess and The Frog. Set in New Orleans before it became the violent crime capital of the hemisphere, this magical tale weaves the colorful atmosphere of Louisiana culture with traditional Disney fantasy, all set to rollicking songs and score by Newman. Read on for all the official deets. Yes, I said deets.

MAKING A MUSICAL
Oscar®-Winning Composer Randy Newman Adds Authenticity and Experience

It was unanimous among the filmmakers—Randy Newman was their first choice, their ideal composer for The Princess and The Frog right from the beginning. Newman, a longtime collaborator for Disney•Pixar films, received an Academy Award® for his work on Monsters, Inc. He won Grammy Awards®for Monsters, Inc., Toy Story and A Bug’s Life (among others).

Newman’s 1974 song “Louisiana 1927” had gotten a lot of play after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the directors began thinking of the innate sense of musical theatre in a lot of Newman’s work, including his scores for Milos Forman’s Ragtime or Barry Levinson’s The Natural.

“We just kept thinking, ‘You know, Randy would be really good, there is an Americana aspect of it and that just seems like it would be intriguing,’” John Musker recalls. With family ties to New Orleans and a few summers there as a child, Newman says he has a life-long love of the music. “The music is, I find, congenial,” says Newman. “I don’t know what it is. It’s hard to believe I heard something as a baby, you know, that will always feel good to me. But, who knows? It’s very comfortable to me, that kind of music.”

Newman created an all-new score for the feature in a range of styles, including jazz, blues, gospel, Dixieland and zydeco. He called on the music world’s greatest contributors to take part. The result? Magic.

“We are fortunate to have really accomplished musicians working with Randy Newman on The Princess and The Frog, says producer Peter Del Vecho. “Grammy Award®- winning musicians like Dr. John, Terence Blanchard and Terrance Simien brought not only their talents, but their own unique New Orleans flair to the project and working with them was a real honor.”

Directors Musker and Clements say that one of their most exciting trips to New Orleans was to witness a recording session with Dr. John and Newman. Born in Louisiana, Dr. John is a well-known musician and singer. He was the filmmakers’ first choice to perform over the opening of the film, a sequence that introduces the main characters and the city of New Orleans.

World-renowned musician Terence Blanchard was pleased to see Disney’s return to the musical. “Being part of a musical is a great thing,” he says. “My father sang opera; he loved musicals. One of the first movies he took me to was ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ I’m sorry he’s not here to see this. I’m also kind of lucky he’s not here to see this, because he would be in the studio giving suggestions about what to do.”

The trumpet player lent his phenomenal expertise to the film’s Louis the alligator. “Michael [Leon Wooley] was the voice of Louis and I was the trumpet sound, so I told Michael, ‘Louis is a very complicated character. It takes two of us to comprise this one character, man. He’s a very powerful dude.’”

Blanchard also voiced the role of Earl the bandleader in the riverboat band.

Artist Terrance Simien brought a New Orleans staple to the project: zydeco music. “Zydeco music is the music of the Creoles of Louisana,” he says. “There are so many great styles of music that people don’t really get a chance to hear because it’s not played on the radio. I hope audiences will hear Zydeco music and be more adventurous, explore other styles of music, music from different cultures. I hope they might want to hear a little bit more Zydeco.”

The Princess and The Frog features new songs, including “Down in New Orleans” (featuring “Trombone Shorty,” a well-known local musician), “Friends on the Other Side,” “When We’re Human,” “Gonna Take You There,” “Dig a Little Deeper,” “Ma Belle Evangeline” and “Almost There.”

Tiana’s signature tune “Almost There” was performed by Anika Noni Rose. “‘Almost There’ is the song in which Tiana expresses her emotions about having a restaurant and achieving her goal,” says Newman. “Anika comes from Broadway and singing with a backbeat is not what she typically does, but she did it and did it beautifully.”

One of the more emotional characters in The Princess and The Frog is Ray. Newman helped bring the Cajun firefly’s emotions to light, so to speak.

“‘Evangeline’ is a love song for Ray, the firefly, who is in love with a beautiful faraway firefly he has yet to meet, which is a nice idea,” says Newman. “It was easy to write because I knew instantly that it was going to be a Cajun waltz. His emotion is clear. He’s in love.”

Newman says he understands the power of music for filmmakers, particularly those creating an animated film like The Princess and The Frog. “When you score an animated picture, the characters’ actual behavior is reflected in the music,” he says. “If they fall down, you go ‘ba-dum-dum.’ And if you try not to go ‘ba-dum-dum,’ it doesn’t look right. But the music can also do stuff emotionally for you, too.”

NE-YO: “Never Knew I Needed”
For the end-credit song, the filmmakers turned to multi-platinum, three-time Grammy Award®-winning Def Jam recording artist Ne-Yo. The artist sings “Never Knew I Needed,” a song that captures the journey of both Tiana and Prince Naveen.

From Walt Disney Records, the soundtrack album is available Nov. 24, 2009. Pre-order the soundtrack CD at Amazon.com.