FINLEYWRITE : C. DESIRÉE FINLEY WRITING
  • About
    • Gallery
    • Blog
  • poetry
  • Contact
Picture

Little shop of horrors & a pink poppy

5/16/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
I took a walk this morning and passed by some incredibly large poppies that looked like they were from Little Shop of Horrors. It reminded me of that delightfully quirky musical and how someone came up with the idea of it - sheer genius! I looked it up. Howard Ashman who is described in Wikipedia as lyricist, librettist, and musician; he wrote the screenplay. I consider myself fairly ignorant of all he's done. Despite leaving this earth at age 40, he won the Disney Legends award for "extraordinary and integral contribution" and joins the ranks of Milt Kahl (animation), Les Clark (animation), Norman Palmer (film), Julie Andrews (!) and lots more. Ashman won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics (I love the lyrics!). You won't know this if you're as ignorant as I am, but Howard Ashman, along with Alan Menken, wrote all of the songs for the film. When I think about it, I'm astounded. But wait Ashman pitched to Disney the idea of an animated musical adaptation of Aladdin and with Alan Menken (I am in awe of him too) wrote songs for Aladdin also. According to what I read on Wikipedia, during the early production of Aladdin, "Ashman and Menken were approached to help "reinvigorate and save" the production of Beauty and the Beast, which was apparently going nowhere as a non-musical. The film was released just a few months after his death and is dedicated to Ashman. Two Golden Globes, two Academy Awards, two Grammy awards, and here I am totally ignorant of this man. If I hadn't seen an extraordinary poppy this morning I wouldn't have looked up Little Shop of Horrors and discovered Howard Ashman (and Alan Menken). I regret that Howard lived so short a life and hope that others, even if they don't know him, find his work, his legacy. Note to self: Sure, you're no Howard Ashman, but take a moment to ruminate and be inspired. Howard and Alan didn't write to be famous. They simply loved the hybrid of story and song. And (in my tiny life) I don't write to be famous. I write because I love stories and language and characters and because I hope those stories will be read and to have an effect on people. So..I thank Howard Ashman and the poppy for reminding me of this.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    C. D. Finley

    Opinionated, wry, sometimes corny, observational humor mostly about writing, but you never know.

    Archives

    January 2023
    May 2022
    August 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    March 2020
    November 2019
    June 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018

    Categories

    All
    30 Poems In 30 Days
    Cats
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    Drawing
    Finley
    Fishtalk
    Hilltowns
    Home
    Local Stuff
    Personal Observations
    Poetry
    Publishing
    Quarantine Life
    Quarantine-life
    Quiet
    Seniors
    Starting Over
    Western Mass
    Writing
    Writing Challenge
    Writing Community

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • About
    • Gallery
    • Blog
  • poetry
  • Contact