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Calluna
Genie of the Messageboard
Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 3692
Location: Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain.
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 Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 11:26 am Post subject: Howard Ashman - BatB and Aladdin |
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The things I miss when I stop visiting JimHillMedia.com for awhile...
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At a martini party at Jeffrey's beach house, Katzenberg asked Ashman & Menken to come help bail out "Beauty & the Beast." Alan seemed interested, but Howard immediately said "No."
Why for? Well, to be honest, Ashman wanted to follow up his groundbreaking work on "The Little Mermaid" by leaping straight into production on an animated version of "Aladdin." This story was actually very close to Menken's heart, given that he had actually played the part of Aladdin in a NYC children's theater production of the story back in the early 1960s.
More to the point, Howard knew that the clock was ticking. Earlier that year, Ashman's doctor had told him that he was HIV positive. Given that this was back in the late 1980s, back before the "Cocktail" & protease inhibitors, being told that you had AIDS was a virtual death sentence. So Howard knew that he didn't really have a lot of time left. And that -- if he was going to spend his remaining time working on an animated musical for Disney -- then Ashman wanted it to be a project that he really loved. Which was "Aladdin."
Now what's important to understand here that is that Howard had told no one about his diagnosis. Not even his long-time collaborator, Menken. (Who wouldn't learn that Ashman had AIDS 'til April of 1990. Right after "The Little Mermaid" had been honored with the Academy Awards for Best Song & Best Score.)
But of course -- knowing what we know now -- it does seem kind of cruel (at that time) that Jeffrey Katzenberg was refusing to allow "Aladdin" to go into production. Mind you, we're talking about the early early version of that film. Back when the script that Disney's scriptwriters had come up with still featured two genies (I.E. The Genie of the Lamp & the Genie of the Ring), plus Aladdin's mother and his three friends, Babkak, Omar & Kassim.
Though he was still somewhat of a neophyte when it came to animation, Jeffrey still knew that this early early version of "Aladdin" had too many characters. Not to mention story problems. Which was why he refused to make "Aladdin" Howard & Alan's follow-up to "The Little Mermaid."
"Aladdin" would be sent back to Disney's story artists. Who would be encouraged to radically rework the film. Simplifying the plot, cutting back on the number of characters, while still trying to retain as many songs as possible from the score that Ashman & Menken had already written for the film.
In the meantime, Howard & Alan would be assigned to work on "Beauty & the Beast." Once their work was completed on that film, THEN they could turn their attentions back to "Aladdin."
Ashman immediately knew what this meant. That he probably wouldn't live long enough to see the finished version of his dream project, an animated production of "Aladdin." Which had to be a crushing blow.
But Howard was a pro. Which was why -- after a brief period of pouting -- he picked up Linda Woolverton's script and began reading through the thing. As he & Alan Menken tried to figure out how to turn this serious, somber story into a Disney animated musical. |
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AladdinsGenie
Genie of the Messageboard
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 11877
Location: Tennessee
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| Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Aww, that's really sad. I need to start going back to jimhillmedia.com myself. |
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Marisa
Sultan
Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 281
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| Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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To have to go through all that... poor guy. Hope that Howard Ashman got a good view of Aladdin from up there. ^_^ I would have really liked to have met him... and I do wanna meet Alan Menken, too.
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Salukfan
Tiger-Clawed Thief
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
Posts: 1991
Location: Butler, PA
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| Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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Poor Howard Ashman. He gave us so many great songs.
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persian85033
Elemental
Joined: 27 May 2005
Posts: 2061
Location: Agrabah(I wish)
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| Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, he did. Such great great songs.
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"I too am a member of your species, Captain, or I was. Perhaps I am not anymore. Perhaps you are right in thinking of me as an alien. I know I am different from you. You see-I do not kill." |
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Hourglass
Elemental
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 2355
Location: Realm of Imagination
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Nez
Eccentric Papyrus Jockey
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 2617
Location: Bellevue, Ne
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 8:44 am Post subject: |
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At least they recorded it for the DVD.
Also you'd be surprised how many composers couldn't bask in the praise of their work. Jonathan Larson, the playwright behind RENT died before seeing his show open.
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Nanuk
Squirrelly Minion
Joined: 30 Dec 2004
Posts: 227
Location: Austin, TX
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 10:41 am Post subject: |
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What's even more sad was that he didn't even get to see the completed version of Beauty and the Beast either 
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