Howard Ashman, the man who woke Sleeping Beauty

[CapnHook]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 1:20am

He died wearing a BEAUTY & THE BEAST sweater. He never got to see the completed film.

I just finished watching the new documentary WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY which chronicles the period of Disney history where the company went through its second Golden Age (dying from THE BLACK CAULDRON through soaring with THE LION KING). The film was just released onto DVD this past weekend and I highly recommend it.

I knew that Howard Ashman was a very talented writer. This film has now let us see that not only did he have talent, but he was a visionary as well as a man who inspired artists to do their best. Without his presence on the Disney films, not only would they be without the content he had written, but the films in their entirety would have been sourly different. He was a Walt Disney. Gone too soon.

In this film, there is a clip where Ashman instructs Jodi Benson how to sing "Part of Your World." Those few seconds are a witness account of a genius creating art.

[BroadwayBenny]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 11:36am

In the special features you get to see the entire session of her recording Part of Your World for the film in addition o the clip in the documentary. I seriously started balling my eyes out.

[onedaymore]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 11:38am

Is it true that Jodi Benson asked to turn the lights down to get the "ambiance" of being underwater?

[jv92]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 11:48am

Really is a swell documentary and a nice tribute to Ashman's talents.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 1:40pm

I seriously started balling my eyes out.

You mean "bawling"? "Balling" means something entirely different and the image in that context is rather creepy.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 1:57pm

HAHAHAHA

[CapnHook]

Posted: 12/5/10 at 2:42am

Just watched the Bonus Features on the DVD. There are FOUR deleted scenes just on Howard Ashman:

"Black Friday" - the event which led to the decision to cut a storyline from ALADDIN, thus removing the song "Proud of Your Boy" which was an essential Ashman song.

"Howard's Lecture" - 10 minutes of a genius sharing his genius. Howard prepared a lecture on musicals for the animators to share what makes a song work and what doesn't. This clip should be shown to all musical theatre writing students.

"Losing Howard" - how Disney handled Howard's illness and the company's reaction to his death.

"Recording 'Part of Your World'" - Howard coaches Jodi Benson while she records the song for the film. I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT THIS IS RECORDED ON VIDEO. This is an example of the material that Disney needs to include as bonus features on their DVD releases. Not those ****ty games. I don't know ANY kids who plays those games on the DVDs. That's what they have Nintendo for. Anyway, this clip is a remarkable find. Directors, acting coaches, and actors: have a notepad ready and take notes.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 12/5/10 at 12:30pm

I had the privlage of attending a screening of this documentary this summer, while Peter Schneider was directing a production at Powerhouse/NYSAF this summer. It really is a fantastic film, and I agree CapnHook, those scenes with Jodi Benson are magnificent.

It's a very interesting period of time to study, how did a company who's animation was in the ****ter produce those films which created a renaissance in animated movie musicals?

Fun Fact: In the Q & A section, I asked Mr. Schneider about bringing THE LION KING to Broadway, and he told me that they had two completely separate groups developing the show for the stage, and when they saw what Taymor was doing, they let the other group go.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 12/5/10 at 4:12pm

The man deserves huge recognition!