Alan Menken working on new music for Disney's The Little Mermaid and Disenchanted

Alan Menken is working on the scores for The Little Mermaid and Disenchanted while practicing social distancing during the coronavirus crisis.

Despite Disney bosses temporarily halting production on Rob Marshall's upcoming live-action adaption of the 1989 animated classic due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Oscar-winning composer and songwriter is putting his time spent indoors to good use.

"This has been a great time for writing. Production stopped on The Little Mermaid movie," he shared during a special live stream of The Rosie O'Donnell Show. "We recorded all the songs, and I wrote four new songs with Lin-Manuel Miranda, the lyricist for Mermaid."

The new Little Mermaid stars Halle Bailey as the mermaid princess, with Melissa McCarthy, Jacob Tremblay, Awkwafina, and Jonah Hauer-King taking on supporting roles.

In addition, Menken revealed that he is making progress on another big Disney feature.

"And I'm working on Disenchanted, the sequel to Enchanted," the 70-year-old divulged.

Though there is yet to be an official announcement about Disenchanted, Disney producers have been teasing an update regarding the follow-up to the 2007 hit featuring Amy Adams and James Marsden in recent months.

Elsewhere in the chat, Menken admitted he has "a whole bushel of new projects" on the go, including a new stage adaptation of 1997 hit movie Hercules.

"And I have another Broadway show. Oh, and Hercules is coming to the stage, of course. We did that in Central Park last summer," he added.