Howard Ashman (1950-1991)

Howard Ashman is not a household name. Yet, his contributions to musical theatre and animation are known around the world. Ashman began his career as an off-off-Broadway playwright in New York City before pivoting to writing lyrics for Disney animated movies. A major influence in the Disney Renaissance (the period between 1989-1999 in which Walt Disney Studios produced many critically and commercially successful animated films, mostly adaptations of folktales), Ashman’s star burned brightly but briefly. Ashman passed away due to AIDS complications in 1991. 

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Born to a Jewish family in Baltimore, Maryland in 1950, Howard Ashman was interested in storytelling and theatre from an early age. Howard wrote, directed, and acted in shows he wrote as a child and even participated in community children's theatre. He attended Goddard College where he earned a BA in Theatre, then moving onto a MFA at Indiana University where he pivoted from performance to writing and directing. After university, Ashman moved to New York City with his boyfriend, Stuart White, and together they reopened the Workshop of Players Art Foundation (WPA). Using the WPA to produce much of his own work, Ashman worked as a professional Broadway lyricist and director for over ten years. 

During this time, Ashman was introduced to Alan Menken who would become Howard’s longtime professional partner. The first show the two worked on was an adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, put on at the WPA in 1979. It was mildly successful, allowing Ashman and Menken to collaborate on another project together, Little Shop of Horrors. 

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“Little Shop” tells the story of down-on-his-luck Seymour Krelborn, a flower shop assistant, who uses a flesh-eating plant to further his life professionally and romantically. The show is a black comedy and in Ashman’s own words, “satirises many things: science fiction, 'B' movies, musical comedy itself, and even the Faust legend.”   The musical received a film adaptation in 1986 for which Ashman was lyricist and screenwriter. Both the musical and the film have received cult followings because of its camp elements, macabre storyline, and of course, its music. 

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After breaking up with Stuart White in 1980, it was around this time that Howard met Bill Lauch, the man that would become his life partner. Howard and Bill lived together in upstate New York, openly gay, until the end of Howard’s life.

 

After Little Shop of Horrors, Ashman wrote one more Broadway musical, Smile, which was based off a movie about a Californian beauty pageant. Although it opened on Broadway in 1986, it did not receive the praise Ashman was used to. Frustrated with his “flop,” Ashman left New York to begin working for Disney. 

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Ashman’s first major project at Disney Animation was The Little Mermaid for which he wrote the score with Alan Menken. The pair, bringing their Broadway expertise to the silver screen, wrote complex and sweeping music for the film that is still revered to this day as some of the best ever produced at Disney. They won “Best Original Song” at the Academy Awards in 1989 for “Under the Sea,” as well as a Grammy and Golden Globe. After Little Mermaid, Ashman/Menken worked on both Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. 

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However, it was at this time that Howard Ashman fell ill. Diagnosed with HIV in 1988, Ashman worked through his illness to the very end, receiving treatment during his time with Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast. Howard did not let many people into the “inner circle,” keeping his illness a secret out of fear he would be fired from Disney. Howard kept up appearances until it was impossible and asked production for Beauty and the Beast to be moved to the East Coast so he could attend the production sessions. Howard Ashman passed away from AIDS complications on March 14, 1991 at age 40. He would be the first AIDS victim to win a (posthumous) Academy Award.  

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Ashman’s legacy as a Jewish gay artist can be seen through his life and his work. Many of his songs deal with feelings of “otherness” and a yearning to belong (“Somewhere That’s Green”, “Part of Your World”). In fact, scholars and critics consider “Part of Your World” a reflection of the gay community's desire to be accepted by society. In Beauty and the Beast, “The Mob Song” can be seen as a response to the lambasting of AIDS victims: “we don’t like what we don’t understand, in fact it scares us and this monster is mysterious at least.”   Many see the entire movie of Beauty and the Beast as a metaphor for AIDS, including the director of the 2017 remake with Emma Watson. In an interview with Attitude Magazine, Bill Condon said, “specifically for [Ashman] it was a metaphor for AIDS. He was cursed and this curse had brought sorrow on all those people who loved him and maybe there was a chance for a miracle and a way for the curse to be lifted. It was a very concrete thing that he was doing.”   Whether or not that was Howard’s true intentions with those songs, his work is easily considered through a queer lens.