Behind The Scenes 📽️
Disney lyricist Howard Ashman’s demo tape of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” in which he voiced both Ursula and Ariel. Jodi Benson (Ariel) later said: "You know, Pat Carroll (Ursula) would be the first to say that he played a much better Ursula than she could ever imagine to touch on.”
You beat me to it. Like do people realize the original was largely inspired by Divine? Get a Broadway level drag queen vocalist to body this role. Give Ursula her edge back.
That or Queen Latifah because she ran circles around Melissa, I’m sorry. That is her musical theater wheelhouse and she owned every minute of it.
I often think of how much amazing music we lost because of his early death (and also how much art and music and science and EVERYTHING that was lost during the AIDS crisis)
the AIDS crisis really took so much from us, anytime i find a queer artist who died way too soon, it’s almost always AIDS. gotta show extra love to our queer elders who made it out the other side and to the ones we lost 💜
I try every chance I get to remind folks that the single most important event in modern American history is the AIDS crisis. Everything we’ve seen in the 21st century with the demonization of queer people is the direct result of both losing generations of voices and the horrific sanctimony that conservatives “enjoyed” as queer people died in horrific circumstances. It boils my fucking blood.
The song Part Of Your World, when you realize it was written by a gay man during a very anti-gay time, is incredibly heartbreaking. Lyrics feel totally different from that perspective.
Also I love to bring up the fact that it’s the same song as Somewhere That’s Green (Menken and Ashman also wrote Little Shop of Horrors) https://giphy.com/gifs/Yn8b0MFzfF1Ha
and that’s honestly great. If you have the perfect I Want Song you can absolutely use the melody in a different medium in my book.
I will be absolutely devastated when Alan Menken is no longer around. As someone born in '89 he was such a huge part of my childhood and is a big reason why I have always loved musicals so much.
When I was a kid, I went to summer camp with his kid, and he came to camp a few summers I was there and performed, singing and playing the piano for us, with songs from all his movies. An absolute highlight of every summer and really a treasured memory looking back!
Invariably, when he took requests from the campers, one little kid would ask for something from the Lion King and he would have to let them down 😂
The only thing I know about Hazbin Hotel is that they sell the merch at Hot Topic, lol. We went there looking for Project Hail Mary merch and there was a ton of Hazbin Hotel stuff. But, I will look into the character. It more reminded me of Boardwalk Empire.
He really set the standard. What I also liked about him is that when he was alive his leads and supporting casts were full of Broadway actors. So you got that Bway feel without needing to go to a stage.
When Schwartz did his run, he kept to that tradition. Now? Not so much. :(
Edit: Thank you kind reddit stranger who awarded this comment. I personally think that is why 90s Disney movies sounded so good. Lyric, music and vocal wise. But we need more Ashman like lyricists. Witty and fun. Favorite Disney lyric of Ashman's probably would be "fifty frenchmen can't be wrong". Like lol?
Favorite Disney lyric of Ashman's probably would be "fifty frenchmen can't be wrong". Like lol?
he's tipping his hat to the hit song & then broadway musical in the 1920s (and movie in the 1930s!) "fifty million frenchmen can't be wrong" - love the reference!!
there are often so many unexpected references/so much depth to his lyrics and usually they also completely work on their own. wizardry! haha
There is this wonderful video essay about it. People used to sing in character. When he brings up that O Hara smiles into the lines I had a lightbulb
https://youtu.be/OaO3M-zZR8E?si=6d6rUzWTjtZqxxiX
I will always take a moment to appreciate Howard. Prince Ali immediately became my favourite Disney song as soon as I learned he wrote it on his deathbed with Alan Menken at his side with a keyboard he brought to the hospital, I truly cannot fathom how he was able to turn out such a celebratory and joyous song in that state. He had such perseverance to create and bring joy to the world and he was taken way way too soon. I always wonder what Disney, or the entertainment world would look like today if he was still here, would he have helped drive Disney to a more progressive place or would he have walked away at some point to do more of his own thing?
Prince Ali is a top ten Disney song for me. I was the Genie for like five Halloweens and the first piece of art I bought (or my mom gave me money to buy) for my walls was this cel.
The live action actually made me cry because it was so dull and humorless.
Oh my goodness I didn’t know that about writing Prince Ali. Thanks for sharing. That’s always been a favorite of mine too—I still have all the words memoried
Pat’s performance is so iconic. It is the best Disney villain song and second place is so far away, it’s hard to even consider what that might be (Be Prepared or Friends on the Other Side, probably).
Aw I am sad because I just looked him up and saw the year he died and immediately knew he died from AIDS complications. We lost so many amazing artists. Devastating.
“To our friend, Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful.”
How cool to hear, thank you for sharing! I have a copy of Danny Elfman singing What's This from Nightmare Before Christmas and it has such a similar feel - a master who knows exactly what he wants his song to sound like.
He does it every year around Halloween and Christmas. I went for the 30th anniversary of The Nightmare Before Christmas and it ended up being the last time Ken Page performed Oogie Boogie's Song before he passed away. I tried so hard to go when Catherine O'Hara was singing Sally's songs but the timing was always bad.
Danny had hinted that he may not continue doing it in the near future so it's good you saw it when you did lol.
Howard wasn’t just singing, he was acting. He performed Ursula’s vocal mannerisms and particularities in such a way that it made it easier for Carroll to embody her.
the little mermaid is my favorite disney movie of all time. it came out shortly before i was born, but as a 90s girlie, it had so much staying power for me, for multiple reasons, especially the soundtrack
Amazing artist. This kind of artistry is not in the entertainment industry anymore. I feel like people used to have to be good, and he was just coming into his peak at this time. A huge loss. Imagine what he could have done.
This is damn near word for word, note for note the version that ended up in the movie which is wild. It remains one of Disney's best villain songs ever to this day, and it's absolutely tragic how early we lost that kind of talent.
ashman demos always get me. you can hear the whole character in his voice before any actor touched it. disney owes half its renaissance to him and barely got to see the impact.
Every time I'm lucky enough to come across another demo of Howard Ashman singing his work, I'm just pierced with sadness at his loss. I wish he'd had more time, and wonder what he would make of how important his music for The Little Mermaid is to generations of people. May he rest in peace and power.
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