Howard Elliott Ashman (May 17, 1950 – March 14, 1991) was an American songwriter, playwright and stage director best known for his musical collaborations with Alan Menken. The duo found success with the dark comedy stage musical Little Shop of Horrors, which led to them being the music team behind the animated Disney films The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, the two films seen as responsible for saving Disney as a company and ushering in the Disney Renaissance.
Moving to New York City after he attended college, Ashman started his career as a playwright, though none of his plays received much attention. He met Alan Menken at the BMI workshop in the city, and their bond led to them working on their first musical God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. Though not a success, they made another attempt with an adaptation of the 1960 cult film The Little Shop of Horrors. The 1982 off-off-Broadway production became an overnight sensation, propping them up as an in-demand songwriting team.
However, Ashman's sights were set on his dream project, a musical titled Smile. This was a collaboration with composer Marvin Hamlisch loosely based on the 1975 musical of the same name. Premiering in 1986, it flopped and closed after only 48 performances. With his determination at a lull, Menken and Ashman were soon offered the opportunity to work on a Disney musical designed to return to the lavish princess musicals decades long gone. Ashman was hesitant at first, worried that the Hollywood system would compromise his creative vision, but he decided to take it because he thought the last great place to do Broadway musicals was animation.
The end result was The Little Mermaid, a film that Ashman yielded large amounts of creative control. He was known throughout the studio as a perfectionist, and he was often uncompromising in getting the exact vocal performance he needed. This included insisting to the casting team that they hire Broadway professionals as the voice actors, a choice that led to Jodi Benson getting the part of Ariel, having previously played the lead in Smile. Ashman also had a major feud with Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, who insisted that the song "Part of Your World" should be cut from the movie because one kid fell asleep during the scene at a test screening. In the end, Ashman's efforts were paramount to the movie becoming an instant classic and immediate success for the company once released in 1989.
Menken and Ashman's talents were soon requested for Disney's upcoming film Beauty and the Beast, whose original pitch had to be scrapped for being too stuffy and reliant on the source material. The now-musical demanded just as much attention for the duo, with many of the creative decisions Ashman insisted being duplicated here. Ashman was also extremely passionate about a new project the animators were tinkering with, an adaptation of Arabian Nights mixed with Vaudeville comedy. Ashman had always loved the source material, and soon wrote a dizzying number of songs, even though Beauty and the Beast was in the thick of production. This soon became the start of Aladdin, a production that Katzenberg was originally hesitant to push forward into production until he saw it as potential to steal the thunder of the eventually unreleased The Thief and the Cobbler.
Tragically, as Beauty and the Beast was still in production, Ashman was diagnosed with AIDS during the peak of the crisis. Originally kept a secret in fear of it costing his job and hurting Disney's image, he soon told Menken and the rest of the studio as his health worsened. Everyone at Disney offered generous support, even providing accommodations so he could work from home at his New York apartment during recording sessions. Though he was on the verge of death, Ashman worked on the film until mere days before his passing in 1991, dying at the age of 40, thus not living to see the film's completion and eventual release 8 months after his death.
His death caused mourning throughout the company, and Beauty and the Beast was dedicated to him. The film became the first animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and he posthumously won for Best Original Song. His partner of seven years, Bill Lauch, would accept the award on his behalf. Aladdin would release a year later and, though he wrote 16 songs intended for the film, only three of them made the final cut, with the film's other two songs being written by Tim Rice.
Ashman's legacy as a songwriter is vast, with many contemporaries citing him as an influence, including Lin-Manuel Miranda and Robert Lopez. He is also a respected figure within the gay community for being a gay man with a catalog that inspired many, and "Part of Your World" remains a popular gay allegory and anthem. Jeffrey Katzenberg claims that there are two angels looking down on Disney that are crucial to the company being where it is today: Ashman and Walt Disney himself.
A documentary chronicling Ashman's life, simply titled Howard, would be produced and released by Disney in 2020, with his old collaborator Alan Menken composing the documentary's score.
Music Works written by Howard Ashman:
With Alan Menken:
- God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1979)
- Little Shop of Horrors (1982)
- Little Shop of Horrors (1986) (for the original song "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space")
- The Little Mermaid (1989)
- Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990) (for the song "Wonderful Ways to Say No")
- Beauty and the Beast (1991)
- Beauty and the Beast (2017) (This version's rendition of "Gaston" included previously unused lyrics written by Ashman)
- Aladdin (1992) (for "Arabian Nights", "Friend Like Me" and "Prince Ali")
- Aladdin (2011) (unused songs "Proud of Your Boy", "Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim" and "High Adventure" were restored for this production)
With Marvin Hamlisch:
- Smile (1986)
With Barry Mann:
- Oliver & Company (1988) (for the song "Once Upon a Time in New York City")
