Word: ashman
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Shrek the movie differs from the animated hits that Disney has brought to the stage in several important ways. For one thing, it's not a musical - which means no Elton John or Howard Ashman-Alan Menken songs to build a Broadway score around. More crucially, it is the first of the computer-animated films to be turned into theater - which presents different challenges. The romantic sweep and handcrafted classicism of Disney's earlier films could in no way be translated literally to the stage - and that inspired directors like Julie Taymor (The Lion King) and Francesca Zambello (The Little...
...some of the more self-important Disney tales. Hans Christian Andersen gets a lot of the credit for that, but book writer Doug Wright (Grey Gardens, I Am My Own Wife) at least managed not to screw it up. Composer Alan Menken (with Glenn Slater replacing the late Howard Ashman as lyricist) has added several catchy new songs to his already fine score; the Broadway-razzmatazz number in which the Ursula, the sea witch (a sharp Sherie Renee Scott), celebrates her evil ways, "I Want the Good Times Back," would have made the Devil in Damn Yankees jealous. The young...
...ever, Nepal's 26.5 million people are caught in the middle. "The Maoists have threatened to severely punish us if we defy the embargo," says Chitwan farmer Ashman Tamang. "But we'll starve if this continues...
...necessary to deal with some Tim Rice lyrics (which make me mourn Howard Ashman even more every time I hear them). Yes, the songs seem a bit gimmicky at times. But they're good. I can't really describe them will, but take my word for it, the music is powerful and moving...
...rhumba to a putting-on-the-ritz style ballroom affair, the music itself is somewhat catchy, and fits the animation. Surprisingly, it is the lyrics, by Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman, that are the really cheesy part of the score. With none of the creativity of Disney's Howard Ashman or Tim Rice, songs like "Let Me Be Your Wings." suffer from overly commonplace declarations of love, while the more upbeat numbers evoke only an Manilow himself sings only the ending song during the credits--a reprise of "Let Me Be Your Wings...