Menken contributed material to revues like "New York's Back in Town", "Big Apple Country", "The Present Tense" (1977), "Real Life Funnies" (Off-Broadway, 1981), "Diamonds" (Off-Broadway, 1984), and "Personals" (Off-Off-Broadway, 1985). His revue "Patch, Patch, Patch" ran at the West Bank Cafe in New York City in 1979 and featured Chip Zien. The "New York Times" reviewer Mel Gussow wrote: "The title song ... refers to a life's passage. According to Alan Menken ... after age 30 it is a downhill plunge."