With 2024 being the 35th anniversary of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, it is only fitting to shine a spotlight on one of the writers, and someone who is credited with being the main driving force of what is called the ‘Disney Renaissance’: queer playwright, lyricist and stage director, Howard Ashman.

By the 1980s, Disney’s animation department was not what it was under Walt Disney’s tenure. The majority of films were performing poorly at the box office and they lost long-time animator Don Bluth, who took 11 other animators and formed Don Bluth Productions. That company would go on to create the highest-grossing animated film up to that point, An American Tail in 1986, and broke that record with The Land Before Time in 1988.

However, this competition seemed to help Disney, with The Great Mouse Detective performing well in 1986 and Oliver & Company doing better in the US than The Land Before Time in 1988, launching a new era of success for the media giant. Oliver & Company was also the first film that Howard Ashman contributed to.

Howard Ashman’s first major success was the musical Little Shop of Horrors, which debuted in 1982. Operating as director, lyricist, and librettist, he collaborated with composer Alan Menken on the project, and the musical was nominated for a Grammy for Best Musical Cast Show Album.

In 1986, Ashman went on to write the screenplay for the Frank Oz-directed film adaptation of Little Shop of Horrors. He wrote the lyrics for some of the songs, earning his first Academy Award nomination in the Best Original Song category for ‘Mean Green Mother From Outerspace’.

Walt Disney Feature Animation president Peter Schneider had worked with Ashman and Menken on the musical and Ashman was brought in to write a song for Oliver & Company (‘Once Upon a Time in New York City’). Ashman and Menken then both ended up involved in the production of The Little Mermaid after Ashman had requested to work with Menken.

The development of The Little Mermaid (1989) began in the 1930s and by 1988, the studio had decided to make it a musical. Ashman helped revise the story format to give it more of a Broadway structure with song sequences acting as tentpoles for the plot. He wanted the songs to drive the story. He even worked with the cast on their performances. He is credited as lyricist and producer and for additional dialogue.

Ashman and Menken wrote all the songs, and had to fight for the inclusion of the now iconic ‘Part of Your World’. ‘Kiss the Girl’ and ‘Under The Sea’ were both nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy, with the latter taking all three.

The film beat Don Bluth’s All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), released on the same day, in the opening weekend. It went on to break The Land Before Time’s place as the highest-grossing animated film.

While working on The Little Mermaid, Ashman pitched the idea of an animated musical adaptation of Aladdin (he had performed in an Aladdin production when he was younger). While working on the project, he and Menken were asked to reinvigorate the production of Beauty and the Beast, which was not working as a non-musical.

Ashman had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in January 1988, during the production of The Little Mermaid. Due to his illness, he wished to focus on Aladdin but reluctantly agreed to take on Beauty and the Beast. He had informed executives that he was ill and Disney created a production unit near his home in New York, which allowed him to continue working on the film while receiving treatment.

Ashman and Menken wrote the Beauty and the Beast score during pre-production. They bettered their previous record by having three songs nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song: ‘Be Our Guest’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and ‘Belle’. The score also garnered multiple Grammy nominations.

Aladdin (1992) was the third and final Disney film that Howard Ashman and Alan Menken collaborated on as Ashman died in March 1991. It featured seven songs, three by Howard Ashman, namely ‘Arabian Nights’, ‘Friend Like Me’ and ‘Prince Ali’.

Ashman won numerous awards for both Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.

The song ‘Beauty and The Beast’ won him his second Oscar. His partner Bill Lauch accepted the award on his behalf, noting it was the first Oscar won posthumously by person who died of AIDS-related complications.

‘Friend Like Me’ was also nominated, losing out to another Aladdin song, ‘A Whole New World’, which was created by Tim Rice.

Ashman also posthumously won a Laurence Olivier Award in 1998 for Best Musical for Beauty and the Beast. The movie was dedicated to him, with the message after the end credits reading: “To our friend, Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful. Howard Ashman 1950-1991.”

A documentary about him, Howard, had a limited theatrical run on December 18, 2018. The film has wonderful archival footage showing Ashman at work, including him performing some of his songs. It also shows interactions with voice actors Jodi Benson (Ariel), Paige O’Hara (Belle), Jerry Orbach (Lumière) and Angela Lansbury (Mrs Potts). In the documentary, Roy E. Disney compares Ashman to his uncle Walt.

It was released on Disney+ on August 7, 2020. It was initially supposed to be removed from the streaming service on May 26, 2023, but fan outcry caused Disney to reverse that decision and it remains available. I recommend that everyone watch it as it really shows the genius that we lost too soon.