Along comes Howard, a documentary focused on the man behind the lyrical success of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, may he rest in peace. With his songwriting partner Alan Menken, Howard Ashman will be remembered as contributing immensely to these animated successes.
In this documentary, we follow Howard’s upbringing in Baltimore, Maryland. His parents? A starry-eyed mom, and a father who works as an ice cream cone salesman. His father, pressured by societal norms, rebukes the thought that Howard should take dancing lessons once his creative instincts begin to appear. However, when he and his son try a fishing trip, (what dads and sons are “supposed” to do), both are stymied. They agree it’s rather boring before packing up and calling it a day.
It’s not long before we discover Howard blossom into a creative powerhouse when, upon completing school at Goddard in Indiana, he sets his sights on New York. It is in New York where he founds the WPA Theater but it is also where his first major success hits the stage, a little old production you might have heard about called Little Shop of Horrors. It’s in this sequence of the film that we are treated to Howard’s insight as he explains the “want” of Ellen Greene’s character Audrey as captured by the song “Somewhere That’s Green.”
From the success of Little Shop comes a pairing with Marvin Hamlisch, a creative coupling called “Smile” that unfortunately fails. And just when Howard thinks he is down and out, Jeffrey Katzenberg at the Mouse House in Burbank comes calling. And Disney falls into Ashman’s proverbial lap.
Traveling to the west coast, Ashman finds the dusty remains of a once powerful animation division, one that has been laid waste by a disappointing string of films that garnered little box office attention. Howard, along with Alan Menken, team up with the then current roster of scrappy animators in order to breathe life into “The Little Mermaid”.
And breathe life they do. Paralleling the “want” song from Little Shop, they conjure up “Part Of Your World,” where Ariel dreams of walking the earth to meet her prince. Ironically, it is in the documentary we discover that Katzenberg suggests they should omit this song because kids are bored by it. A matter that brings much contention from Howard.
As for the remainder of the documentary, the magic is dimmed when Ashman finally reveals his AIDS diagnosis to his longtime music partner Menken – a secret that Ashman plays close to the vest for fear of being stigmatized or fired by Disney. This was the late 80s, a time when the AIDS crisis was at its peak.
Instead, Disney rallies and brings pending projects from its west coast studio to Ashman’s home in New York, where he continues to add his personal touches to such greats as Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.
In all, Howard is extremely touching. A heartfelt look into the ofttimes confounding process behind staging musicals for Broadway and film. Howard’s life story is punctuated with rare archival footage, and sound clips of his own voice. It is a melodic story that serves a personal peek into this creator’s life. One that was, unfortunately, cut short but continues to inspire to this very day.
As of this writing, Howard, directed by Don Hahn, is streaming on Disney Plus.
