The Writing Team Behind Beauty and the Beast
Asylums and Mental Health
Linda Woolverton
Bookwriter
Linda Woolverton was born in Long Beach, California. She holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from California State Long Beach and a Masters Degree in Theater for Children at California State Fullerton. She has a rich background in children's theatre and entertainment and has worked as a children's television writer and novelist.
When one of her novels caught the attention of a Disney executive, she was hired to write the script for the animated motion picture Beauty and the Beast (1991). She was the first woman to write a feature length film for Disney.
Upon its release, Beauty and the Beast (1991) became the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Listen to Linda talk about her background and share a bit about process for writing Beauty and the Beast.
Bookwriter: Linda Woolverton
Lyricist: Howard Ashman
Composer: Alan Menken
(additional lyrics by Tim Rice)
“I really grew up in a time when we were going to change the world. So, when they brought me in to write Beauty, I thought: Oh, now here’s my opportunity to change the perception of the Disney victim heroine.”
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- Linda Woolverton
Howard Ashman
Lyricist
Howard Ashman was a Baltimore native who grew up loving musical theatre. Before he realized lyricism was his passion, he was an actor, director, and producer. After graduating from Goddard College in Vermont and receiving his MFA from Indiana University, Howard moved to New York with his partner and formed the WPA Theatre.
His first collaboration with Alan Menken was an adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. Undeterred by his last show fizzling out, Howard was convinced that his next project would be a hit. That project was Little Shop of Horrors. The show (with music by Alan Menken) was an immediate success. The massive success of Little Shop made the flop of Howard's following musical with Marvin Hamlisch that much harder to bear. Smile is now considered a lost gem of musical theatre, but closed after only 48 performances on Broadway.
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Disney released a documentary on Howard Ashman's life and career in 2018. Watch the trailer here. The full documentary can be streamed on Disney+.
Turning his talents toward film, Ashman was instrumental in the renaissance of Disney animated musicals and in the development of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, all with music by his longtime collaborator, Alan Menken. During production of The Little Mermaid, Howard discovered he was infected with HIV. He continued to work on all three Disney musicals until he was physically unable to do so, only letting his collaborators know when he was too sick to travel. Howard died of AIDS in 1991, shortly before the release of Beauty and the Beast. At the end of the film, Disney included the below dedication to recognize his contribution.
“To our friend, Howard,
who gave a mermaid her voice
and a beast his soul,
we will be forever grateful.”
- Dedication at the end of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (1991) film
Click on the above demo track to hear a recording of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman singing an early version of the opening number "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast.
Alan Menken
Composer
Alan Menken was born in New York City to two artistic parents, an actress and a piano player turned dentist. From an incredibly young age, he knew he wanted to be a composer because he would "fake" his piano practice by getting the basic idea of a Beethoven song and then making up the rest. He holds a degree in Musicology from NYU, where he wrote his first musical (a rock musical about hippies living in an apartment building with more conservative neighbors). He and Howard Ashman meet shortly after and work on their adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, and later Little Shop of Horrors, the show that puts them on the map. Alan writes a few small things after this, but his career takes off when Howard Ashman invites him to work on The Little Mermaid with him at Disney. This was Alan's first venture into animation, and first time writing a score, which he later received an Oscar for. Alan goes on to write Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame...and the list goes on.
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