Howard Ashman
Howard Ashman is an American playwright, lyricist, and stage director best known for his work on Walt Disney Animation Studios films including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, with music composed by Alan Menken. He is widely credited as a driving force behind the Disney Renaissance, integrating the medium of animation with musical theater traditions. He also conceived, wrote, and directed the Off-Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors. He died of AIDS complications in 1991 at the age of 40.
“Howard has this great quote where he says, well, in every great Broadway musical, the third song, the leading lady goes and she sits on something...and she sings a song to the world telling the audience what she wants.”
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